The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management will submit the guidelines on integrated coastal zone management plan to the Central Government by June-end.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the inauguration of a short-term course in 'Integrated Coastal Zone Management' at the College of Fisheries in Mangalore on Wednesday, R. Ramesh, Director of NCSCM, said that the guidelines will be submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment by the end of June.

The Ministry will disseminate this to the coastal States. The states will be asked to have consultative meetings with the stakeholders on these guidelines, and the Ministry will ask the coastal states to prepare plans, he said.

Stating that the integrated coastal zone management plans will be site-specific, Ramesh said the role of his centre is to prepare guidelines and not to come out with plans for the particular site.

The guidelines will advise the States to have stakeholders’ meet and prioritise the issue of the site concerned.

Giving an example, he said if pollution is an issue in a particular site, then pollution management plan can be taken up. If conservation is an issue, then conservation management plan can be taken up. The centre will help the States in identifying the issues of that particular site, he said.

Referring to the increase in the number of ports in the country over the past 50 years, he said the number has increased from 12 to around 250 now.

If integrated coastal zone management plan is in place, it will help in identifying the feasibility for the establishment of ports in future. There may be some locations that are prone to sea erosion. In such a situation, it will not be feasible to set up ports in such locations.

The plan helps in developing environment-friendly development in coastal region, he added.

>vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW