Odisha has nearly a 500 km-long coast along the Bay of Bengal, which extends from Digha (West Bengal border) to Gopalpur. The entire length and breadth of the sea coast is highly neglected and thoroughly commercially exploited. As a result, the people of the State are suffering much.
The nature built ecological systems along the entire sea coast of Odisha have been highly degraded because of intense commercial activities. “Degraded ecosystem” means the eco-system, whose diversity and productivity have been so reduced that, they are unlikely to recover without rehabilitation or restoration measures. The whole Odisha coast needs integrated efforts for the management of its coast ecology.
The integrated coastal zone management implies to a process for the management of the sea- coast using an integrated approach. The idea was born in 1992 during Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro. The importance of the coastal zone and the need for such management carry four objectivities. First, the dynamic process that occurs within the coastal zones produce diverse and productive eco-systems which have great historical importance; second, the coastal margins equate to only 8 per cent the world’s surface area, but provide 25 per cent of global productivity and 70 per cent population is found within this zone; third, two-third of world cities are found on the sea-coast; four valuable resources such as fish and minerals, which are the common properties and in great demand for coastal dwellers for sustenance, recreation and economic development.
According the contemplation of Rio de Janeiro, these resources have been subjected to intensive and specific exploitation but such contemplative views are thoroughly overlooked. 90 per cent world fish harvest comes from such economic zones of the globe. The over exploitation of ocean resources and coastal economic resources led to problems that have cumulative effects.
The human activities, as a whole, in the coastal zones and coastal plains generally degrade the systems of nature by exploiting unsustainable quantities of resources. So, a holistic approach is required to obtain a sustainable outcome.
The four goals of Integrated Coastal Zone Management are (1) Maintaining the functional integrity of the coastal resources systems; (2) Reducing the conflicts over resources use; (3) Maintaining the health of the environment; (4) Facilitating the progress of multi-sectoral development. Failure to carry out such cardinal principles leads to unsustainable management.
Exactly, such things are happening in the sea coast management of Odisha, the disastrous outcome is evident in Puri coast. The phenomenon is global. There is no integration among sectors. In coastal environment many sectors are functioning. The human activities include largely on tourism, fisheries, and port companies. The integration between these sectors is essential.
The coastal environment has dynamic relationship between many processes all of which are independent. Take the case of Puri coast. It is a coast of brine-sand dunes formed by the action of ocean. Every day volumes of sands are cast over the land mass and form a massive coastal embankment to prevent sea-waves and tides and also tidal erosions. The effects of sea waves and tides were always kept on bay since inceptions but due to lack of coordination between the management policy of land mass and ocean body, the extensive sea-erosion is taking place on Puri coast. In this case the management principles of coastal ecological sphere must be given extreme importance.
Silica is the main constituent of sand, which is responsible for formation of quartz. The component of sand always provides massive platform to prevent all kind of sea erosion. The ocean water also bears silica with other elements. The cumulative effect of nature always restrains the ocean within the bay limits if the ecological sphere is scientifically managed. We are not permitting our sea coast to form siliceous platform through multifarious economic activities. The writer belongs to Paradip and is well-versed with the coastal mechanism.
During British administration in India, the State ruler of Bardhaman, ( then he was also the owner of the Kunjanga ex-Zamidary) built a massive masonry bungalow at Sandakud which was very close to Paradip coast and was almost camouflaged under forests crew pine and other mangrove species of the river mouth of the Mahanadi. The writer stayed in the bungalow for a few days. But after establishment of Paradip port and other commercial institutions in the zone, the ecological protection to this massive structure is completely neglected. The need of the hour is to protect the whole ecological complexes of marine land.
The most important aspect of integrated coastal zone management policy is integration among different stakeholders. It has to be observed right from planning and policy formulations. It is quite true that integrated coastal zone management is most effective, where the initiative has common purpose at local, regional and national levels. It is also a fact that, the common goals and actions increase the efficiency and mitigate confusion.
In a coastal management scenario, there are many horizontal and vertical aspects to deal with, which reflect the complexity of the task. To meet the challenges all the means of scientific, cultural, traditional, political and local expertise should be taken into considerations.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)