Odisha would be the first State in the country to initiate the process of Shoreline Management Plan and Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP), said the ICZMP Odisha authorities during a four-day training workshop on ‘ICZM and Shoreline Management Planning’ organised by the State Project Management Unit (SPMU) in collaboration with the SICOM and World Bank here.
According to the authorities, the ICZM and shoreline planning is a new concept for India and it needs lot of capacity-building for initiating the process.
To facilitate this, the SPMU initiated an interactive and customised training workshop involving international experts with experience to provide good example and give hands on in the field for better understanding, they added. The key stakeholders from different Government departments, fishermen, NGOs, academician, experts and scientists participated in the programme.
The SPMU of the ICZM Project Odisha has generated credible primary data on coastal process based on a one-year extensive study of the State’s coast covering the entire 480 km based on the sediment cell for the first time in India. This path-breaking study generated a world-class database, which would provide the basic inputs for the ICZM planning.
The holistic study covering the entire coast would provide a very good insight into the coastal process, and by use of these data the cumulative effect of each developmental project over the entire coast could be predicted.
The international experts were also highly impressed with the database. Now, the State is all set to initiate the process of ICZM planning with the framework developed through the wide deliberations and inputs from the experts. The State would lead the country in formulation of the ICZM and shoreline management plan for sustainable management of the State coast.