25 Mar : In a first ever exercise, the Centre has decided to survey the country’s more than 7500-km-long coastline from mapping and identifying vulnerable areas.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved a 1156 crore rupee World Bank assisted Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project whose focus will be on communities living in the coastal areas.
The government has made Corporate governance norms mandatory for all Central Public Sector Enterprise.
In its meeting, the cabinet also approved the establishment of the National knowledge network for human development in critical and emerging areas.
This project is to be implemented over the next five years by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The fragile Sunderbans ecosystems have been given priority in the project, Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
The World Bank’s contribution as soft loan or IDA credit is around 897 crore rupees.
Under the project, a National Centre for Integrated Coastal Zone Management would be set up at Anna University in Chennai.
Of special focus in the project would be identification and demarcation of coastal fragile areas like mangroves, brackish water wetlands and coral reefs, based on which a new category of ‘Critically Vulnerable Coastal Areas'(CVCAs) would be designated and appropriate management plans implemented for their preservation and regeneration, he said.
This ICZM project assumes special significance in the context of climate change since one of the definitive findings of the IPCC relates to the increase in mean sea levels as a result of global warming.