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CHAPTER-4
4.0 SUGGESTIONS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR INTEGRATED COASTAL
ZONE MANAGEMENT
Since 1991, various Expert Committees have gone into specific issues relating to
Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991. There have also been several judicial
pronouncements., Large -scale violations of the regulatory framework in c oastal areas are also
being reported from time to time. Anthropogenic pressures on several fragile ecosystems
have been growing, particularly with reference to housing, tourism and hotel industry, sand
mining and industrial projects. Coastal pollution has also become a major issue of concern. It
is in this background that the present Committee was set up to review the current situation
with reference to Coastal Regulation Zone and suggest ways of ensuring that the principles of
ecology, intra-and inter-generational equity and the livelihood security of the fisher and farm
families living near the coast, become fundamental to the management of our coastal zone.
Due to pressures of development, recreational and housing activities, the Coastal
Regulation Zone Notification has been frequently amended. Aquaculture enterprises have
often led to the denudation of precious mangrove forests. Large-scale sand mining,
extraction of coral reefs and dumping of sewage and toxic wastes into the sea are still in
progress. While the Committee started its work in this background, it ended its deliberations
in the context of the extensive damage caused by the titanic tsunami to lives, livelihood and
property on 26 th December, 2004. Tsunami served as a wake -up call. Any further neglect of
sustainable Coastal Zone Management practices will spell doom to the future of coastal
communities. Good ecology alone can ensure sustainable human security to coastal
habitations. Compounding the serious problems arising from demographic and commercial
pressures as well as the greed of the rich and the genuine needs of the poor, which confront
us today, we have also to be prepared to face the prospect of sea level rise within the next few
decades as a result of global warming and the consequent melting of glaciers and the artic and
antarctic ice deposits.
Based on in-depth discussions and widespread consultations with the principal
stakeholders, the Committee developed the following 12 basic guiding principles, which
should govern future decis ions on coastal zone management:
(1) Ecological and cultural security, livelihood security and national security should
be the cornerstones of an integrated coastal zone management policy.
(2) The coastal zone will include an area from territorial limits (12 nautical miles),
including its sea-bed to the administrative boundaries or the biological boundaries
demarcated on the landward side of the sea coast. The coastal zone management
will also include the inland tidal water bodies influenced by tidal action and the
land area along such water bodies. This area should be taken up for an integrated,
cohesive, multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral coastal area management and
regulatory system.
(3) Regulation, education and social mobilization should be the three major
components of a participatory and sustainable Coastal Zone Management strategy.
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