Tamil Nadu’s stunning lengthy sandy seashores are a beloved treasure. Not solely do these seashores present leisure areas for the general public, however are additionally a resting area for migratory birds, and nesting areas for turtles and defend coastal areas from pure calamities. However the 1,076 kilometre shoreline is underneath menace.
Based on the most recent shoreline adjustments evaluation report, about 42.7 per cent, that’s 422 kilomteres of Tamil Nadu’s shoreline is eroding. Consultants say that these alarming statistics are a results of man-made buildings like groynes, seawalls and breakwaters, aside from a lot of ports and harbours throughout the shoreline.
The research, carried out by the Nationwide Centre for Coastal Analysis (NCCR) additionally revealed that Tamil Nadu ranked fourth in coastal erosion, simply behind West Bengal, Puducherry and Kerala, which signifies that erosion is going on throughout the nation’s shoreline at an alarming charge.
So what’s erosion and the way does it occur? Probir Banerjee, founding father of PondyCAN (Pondy Citizen’s Motion Community), a non-governmental organisation that has been making an attempt to revive Puducherry’s seashores, says that to grasp erosion, we should first perceive how seashores are shaped. Most of India’s seashores are shaped by sand that’s transported from the inland via rivers.
About one billion tonnes of sand is transported yearly alongside the Indian coastlines. Nevertheless, the sand does not keep in a single place. It continues to maneuver alongside the coast, relying on the wave motion, a course of known as longshore drift.
So long as the sand is shifting and distributed evenly, it protects coastal areas from pure calamities. However through the years, as a result of development actions on the seaside, the sand has been eroding. “Sand is consistently shifting, however should you put up any construction, it’s going to block the motion of sand on the southern aspect, whereas the sand on the northern aspect of the construction will proceed to maneuver. This can end in a vacuum and the ocean water will are available,” defined Probir.
Puducherry seaside is a basic instance of abrasion as a result of synthetic buildings. In an effort to construct the fishing harbour in 1986, two breakwaters had been constructed. Breakwaters are lengthy strips of boulders jutting out into the ocean to guard the ships from the mighty waves.
Consequently, sand began accumulating on the southern aspect.
In the meantime, the northern aspect continued to expertise longshore drift however with out sand to interchange it. Through the years, the northern aspect began eroding. Equally, sandbars are a small island shaped additional off into the shore, the place the waves break and slowly come to the shore. However when erosion occurs, that sand bar is gone. The waves then hit the rocks onerous and pull the sand from under when it goes again.
Satirically, the answer that the majority coastal dwellers and authorities leap to can also be the reason for the issue. When a selected village or space is going through erosion and desires to guard themselves, they instantly resort to inserting sea partitions or groynes. However the second they do this, they’re merely passing on the issue to their neighbours and destroying the whole ecosystem.
Probir explains, “When the ocean partitions go down, you have to maintain inserting rocks. it makes a deeper and deeper gap outdoors the wall. Consequently, there’s an enormous crevice. What the seaside wants is sand, so long as it has sand, it’s wholesome. The second you deprive it of sand, there’s a drawback. That’s erosion.”
He added, “In Puducherry, we had an Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal order that these buildings should not be constructed and {that a} correct shoreline administration plan must be in place. However nobody has finished something about it. Once we had been in Pillaichavady, we had a gathering in Auroville in regards to the restoration undertaking. Homes had been collapsing and the neighborhood wished to place up some partitions. However the individuals in Kalapet had been protesting in opposition to it as a result of in the event that they constructed partitions in Pillaichavady, Kalapet would endure.
“The issue is that the federal government will wait until the homes are collapsing after which as emergency measures, they’ll put up some partitions and that may trigger issues within the subsequent space,” he added.
So what’s the resolution? Based on Ramanthan V, Group Head, Coastal Processes & Shoreline Administration, “Coastal engineers counsel hybrid options, a mixture of soppy and onerous buildings.”
PondyCAN has proven the remainder of the nation a profitable strategy in stopping erosion by utilizing mushy buildings or pure buildings. As an alternative of onerous buildings like sea partitions, Probir and his staff arrange a submerged reef which is able to arrest the sand. This reef permits simply as a lot sand as required, after which it’s going to spill over and go to the subsequent stretch.
In case of groynes and seawalls, it goes two-three metres above the water stage. So even in case you have the required amount of sand, it can’t leap over the groyne and go to the opposite aspect. In distinction, a submerged reef permits solely no matter sand is required. The entire concept of nature primarily based options is sand nourishment. Tamil Nadu-based environmentalist Jayshree urged that marine plantation is one other various resolution that might forestall erosion.
Erosion impacts the whole ecosystem: the village, seaside, sea, lugworms within the sea, the small and larger fish. When erosion occurs, there are not any lugworms and the whole chain disappears. “Individuals do not perceive the ecosystem, they simply need to defend their home. The truth that you might be destroying the whole ecosystem will not be their concern,” mentioned Probir.It additionally has different environmental impacts. As an illustration, mountains are constantly blasted to get rocks.
So if there are alternate pure options which might be safer, why then are fishing communities and authorities resorting to onerous buildings? One purpose is the lack of understanding about its multi-fold impression. The Tamil Nadu shoreline is susceptible to pure disasters like Tsunamis and fishing communities have suffered through the years as a result of its impression.
They’ve been demanding that sea partitions or groynes be put as much as defend their ships and their homes. In some circumstances, the communities have began constructing partitions themselves. It is because individuals are panicking and wish fast options.
The opposite purpose, in response to Probir, is that, “It is a huge cash making racket. Why would authorities put sand after they can put rocks? There’s a number of vested pursuits. Now we have had a number of workshops with fishermen. They had been all initially demanding partitions. I posed the query ‘would you like a seaside or a wall?’ and so they mentioned seaside. The seaside was their residence, part of their life. However who will give them the seaside? The federal government would say why ought to we do dredging?
“If we put sand, the sand will transfer, we’ve to do it once more. However they do not realise that in the event that they put up buildings, it’s going to set off erosion, and till they take away it, they should maintain doing it artificially. That wants some huge cash too.”
Based on Jayashree, “Intense growth and manipulating the terrain is the issue. There isn’t any plan by any means. For those who take Chennai, the issue is we do not deal with it like a coastal metropolis. Chennai’s coast will not be restricted to the 500m excessive tide line. We deal with it as a flat metropolis, that is how the planning is. We neglect that we’ve a fragile weak shoreline which might spill from 500 m to 13 kilometres inland. We plan all our growth as if that does not exist. That is a number of stress on the coast.
“I am not satisfied that groynes assist in opposition to disasters. We additionally want to make sure that the coast is open solely to the fishing neighborhood. All the things else must be eliminated.”
Based on the NCCR report, “Tamil Nadu has three main ports, seven authorities captive ports, 16 minor ports, greater than 20 fishing harbours and a number of other coastal industries like nuclear and thermal energy crops.” All these actions have put great stress on the coast as effectively.”
Whereas fishermen throughout the coast have been demanding sea partitions and different buildings to guard themselves, environmental activists are saying offering pure options, creating consciousness about it and stopping any additional man-made buildings are the necessity of the hour. Let the sand transfer.