Need to build resilience of coastal communities amid climate change: Minister

He was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the first National Conference on Sustainable Coastal Management in Bhubaneswar.

Noting that the Indian coastline is of immense strategic, economic and social importance to the country, he said that spanning 7,500 kilometres, it is the seventh longest in the world, and is home to 20% of the country’s population.

“Three of our four metropolitan cities lie on the coast. There is a great diversity of ecosystems within our coastal regions that support more than 17,000 species of plants and animals. With the changing climate, we need to build the resilience of communities living in coastal areas.” Yadav said.

This conference has been organized by the Green Climate Fund supported project – Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities – with an objective to bring officials from all 13 coastal states of India under one roof to focus on the three interrelated themes of coastal and marine biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation and coastal pollution.

“This endeavour is aimed at creating a vibrant network of stakeholders who will continue to engage with each other on the topics but also on cross-cutting themes such as coastal governance, technologies and innovation as well as domestic and international finance,” said a statement from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

The minister noted that the conference comes at an important time as India has submitted its revised NDCs and seeks to create multi-sectoral partnerships to meet these targets.

The statement from the ministry said that sustainable coastal management is recognised as need of the hour and data-driven policies and management frameworks, participatory conservation models, and convergence between stakeholders are the key pillars for effective coastal management.

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