Objectives  Partners Activities
Expected results
Conferences/Workshops Papers Publications
Activities (Summary)
This project has 3 phases:
 Phase I: Expert meeting, Literature Review, and
Development of a framework of coastal vulnerability indicators and Selection of study
areas. Time Frame: December 1, 1998- November 30, 1999
Phase II: Data Collection and Analysis in the
selected study areas. Time frame: January 2000-June 2001
Phase III: Model building and Integration,
Development of GIS based decision tools. Time Frame July 2001-`November 2002
In Phase I of this project,
the following was achieved:
An understanding of the societal driving forces that are causing
impacts on coastal ecosystems and regions of India and on methods to study these impacts.
This was achieved primarily through a
meeting with experts in the field and a detailed review of the literature. The Project
Partners did an exhaustive review of: the literature on the Driving Forces and impacts on
coastal ecosystems, State of the coastal ecosystems in India - groundwater, coastal water
quality, land forms and vegetation, and on methodologies to carry out the various
components of the study in Phases II & III.
A framework of indicators of vulnerability was developed to
identify coastal areas that are vulnerable to societal pressures. Click
here for details
This framework was used to select coastal districts to be studied in Phase II.
In Phase II and in the first semester of Phase III of this project, the
following has been achieved:
Selection of districts and the study area for detailed
investigations
Three districts were selected for intensive
study: East Godavari for aquaculture/ agriculture, Thane for industrial activity and North
Goa for tourism. Within each study area, a watershed most representative of the driver was
chosen as the study area for detailed investigations.
An understanding of the societal driving forces and pressures in
the study area
This was achieved primarily through a
detailed analysis of the secondary and primary data, stakeholder mapping and interviews
with local stakeholders. Click here for details on East Godavari, Goa and Thane study areas.
Pressures of human activities on coastal ecosystems
These have been estimated based on two
modified conceptual frames. The estimates are for solid and sewage waste generation, land
converted to tourist infrastructure and water / groundwater use by the domestic and
tourist sector; water/ groundwater use: agriculture (irrigation) and industry, fertilizer
& pesticide use and leaching into soil/ groundwater, and land use by industries
An assessment of the state of the coastal ecosystems in the study
area.
Aquifer vulnerability mapping using DRASTIC
index has been prepared for Goa, and for Goa, Thane and East Godavari using the GALDIT
index. Click here for details on the groundwater
work. Land cover maps for 1989 and 1999 or 2000 have been prepared for all three study
locations, and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) or greenness index calculated
for the same and fragmentation maps prepared. Detailed lists of coastal vegetation species
found in the study sites have been prepared. Detailed chemical and bacteriological studies
have been done for the coastal waters in the study sites.
Integration of socio-economic with the natural systems
Homogeneous digital cartographic databases
for all study areas have been developed that make possible the integration of the wide
variety of thematic data present in this project. Integrated modeling of social and
natural systems is underway
Measuring, Monitoring and Managing Sustainability: Some
suggestions.
Analysis of current coastal area development
in the study areas suggest the need:
(i) to specify necessary conditions to
maintain the environmental sustainability of the coastal economic system,
(ii) a system of indicators of environmental and social performance to monitor activities
(iii) for more stakeholder sensitive policy; improved rule enforcement, and awareness
raising
(iv) the development of multi-stakeholder input into scenario building for different
activities and
(v) for tools that take into account the location specificities of coastal ecosystems. A
new methodology has been developed for delineating groundwater protection zones. Details
The institutional make-up of : the study
area has been studied and the issues of concern to stakeholders have been identified. This
will provide an input into the policy frame for coastal area management being developed.
COASTIN – A Coastal Policy Research
Newsletter.
Six issues of the newsletter for this
project have been published and circulated to over 500 researchers, policy makers and
institutions involved in issues relating to coastal policy and management in Europe, South
and South East Asia.
A book is being published based on the
detailed studies of the social and natural systems in a coastal tourism destination.
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