Scientists stressed on the importance of conserving and managing coastal ecosystems for environmental and economic reasons. They were speaking at the start of a training programme for commandants of the Indian Coast Guard on conservation and management of coastal ecosystems at the Forest Research Institute on Tuesday. The basic purpose of the training is to sensitise the coast guard officers and raise their awareness on marine ecosystems, marine protected areas and their management in India.
Inaugurating the training programme, the FRI director Dr PP Bhojvaid advised the participating coast guard commandants to learn about coastal ecosystem and structures by interacting with the faculty of noted institutions during the training. The FRI Silviculture division head and course director for the training, Kunal Satyarthi emphasized on the importance of protection and management of coastal ecosystems along with sustaining the livelihood of the poor people living in coastal areas.
Faculty members and officials from various institutes including the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, India Gandhi National Forest Academy, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, TRAFFIC India, New Delhi and Indian Meteorological Department, Dehradun. The 12 commandants of the Indian Coast Guard from five regions of India attending the training programme will learn about the use of remote sensing in coastal ecosystem management, use of advance techniques in monitoring and vigilance along ecologically sensitive areas of coastal zones, floral diversity of mangroves, coastal disasters, protection and management of coastal protected areas.