Nearly 50 % of DK’s shoreline eroded, says NCCR study

Nearly 50% of Dakshina Kannada’s shoreline has been eroded, the highest among the three coastal districts of Karnataka, according to a study for the period 1990-2018 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR).

Nearly 50% of Dakshina Kannada’s shoreline has been eroded, the highest among the three coastal districts of Karnataka, according to a study for the period 1990-2018 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR).

Of 36.66 km shoreline in Dakshina Kannada, 17.74 km (48.4%) was eroded during the period. The next highest erosion of 34.7% (34.96 of 100.71 km) was in Udupi district, followed by the least erosion of 12.3% (21.64 of 175.65 km) in Uttara Kannada, according to the study.

Replying to an Unstarred Question by Capt. Brijesh Chowta, MP, in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said that as per the NCCR study, it was observed that about 50% of Karnataka’s coast was in a stable condition, 26% and 24% was under accretion (growing) and erosion, respectively,

The Minister said that 33.6% of the Indian coastline was under erosion, 26.9% was under accretion, and 39.6 % was in a stable state.

The reply said that coastal erosion is an impact of sea level rise along the Indian coastline. The NCCR, an attached office of MoES, monitored the shoreline changes for the Indian coastline using multi-spectral satellite images with field-surveyed data.

The Minister said Karnataka government has prepared the Shoreline Management Plan in compliance with provisions of CRZ Notification, 2019. Further, the government is in the process of implementating the Karnataka Strengthening Coastal Resilience and the Economy (K- SHORE) Project under World Bank assistance, with an objective to enhance coastal protection and resilience of coastal infrastructure, strengthening of livelihood of the coastal communities and tackling of marine plastic pollution.

He said that the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information and Services (INCOIS) has prepared the Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Maps (MHVM) for the mainland of India at 1:25,000 scale. These maps were prepared based on the composites of extreme water levels recorded by the tide gauges and other published scientific literature, shoreline change rate estimated from satellite data, rate of sea level change and high- resolution topographic data (Airborne Lidar Terrain Mapping, and Digital Terrain Models derived from Cartosat-1 data). The MHVM indicates the probable areas of the coast that would get flooded due to oceanogenic disasters like tsunamis and storm surges in 100-year return periods.