Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, issued the Coastal Regulation Zone notification for regulation of activities in the coastal area. It has revoked some of its stringent provisions to permit the expansion of development activities into the environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs), hitherto deemed inaccessible by law.

Body:

The coastal land up to 500m from the High Tide Line (HTL) and a stage of 100m along banks of creeks, estuaries, backwater and rivers subject to tidal fluctuations, is called the Coastal Regulation Zone(CRZ).

The Salient features of the CRZ 2018: Many significant relaxations of development controls along the coastline.

• Relaxed regulations:
  • There is a considerable reduction of the CRZ limits and the no-development zone (NDZ) area.
  • The classification of coastal zone areas is done according to the density of population.
  • For densely populated areas under CRZ – III A, no development zone has been reduced from 200 m to 50 m. This will help meet affordable housing needs for rural areas and other development activities.
• Boost to Strategic projects:
  • For the setting up of “strategic projects,” for defence and public utilities, even the most ecologically critical areas that fall under the CRZ-I classification have not been excluded.
  • Example: Sagarmala project : It consists of a series of commercial ventures envisaged at an outlay of ? 8.5 trillion
• Environmental Protection:
  • To address pollution in coastal areas, setting up of treatment facilities have been made permissible activities in CRZ-I B area subject to necessary safeguards.
  • CRZ limit of 20 m for islands has been maintained intact.
• Distribution of Powers:
  • States will also have the authority to grant clearances and approve proposals for urban (CRZ-II) and rural (CRZ-III) areas.
  • Only such projects which are located in Ecologically Sensitive Areas (CRZ-I) and CRZ-IV will require the necessary clearance from the Union Ministry.
• Boost to Tourism:
  • The notification also permits temporary tourism facilities such as shacks, toilet blocks, change rooms, drinking water facilities etc. in beaches. Such temporary tourism facilities are also now permissible in NDZ of the CRZ-III areas.
  • The new notification may “boost tourism in terms of more activities, more infrastructure and more opportunities and will certainly go a long way in creating employment opportunities in various aspects of tourism”.

The draft rules have diluted the regulations for fragile coastal economy:

• Environmental impacts:
  • The lack of factoring in the effects of climate change on sea levels and well-demarcated hazard line in the new CRZ rules can lead to huge costs.
  • The large-scale intrusion of commercial and industrial activities into the fragile coastal territories, the new CRZ policy would upset the prevailing human–ecological balance.
  • In coastal cities, such as Mumbai and Chennai, increasing urbanisation, changes in land use patterns, encroachments along the coast, construction of coastal roads, and unabated pollution have caused irreversible damage to low-lying areas, water-bodies, and the sea.
  • Studies have shown that the impact of these processes has led to a decline in fish catch and landings over time. Other problems of algal bloom, beaching of the whales, increased plastic pollution is on rise.
  • Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation has turned the coasts into convenient dumping grounds. This directly affects the bio-diversity of the coastal zones.
• Social impacts:
  • With increased commercial and industrial activities in coastal areas, there will be further degradation of marine ecosystems. This will disrupt the livelihoods of resource-dependent populations, especially artisanal fishers living off the coasts.
  • Coastal erosion and the hazards posed by the rising sea level due to climate change have already endangered the lives of populations inhabiting low-lying areas across the globe.
  • The concerns of the fishers is seen to be in conflict with those of other interest groups that seek to corner profits from unfettered use and commercialisation of coastal resources and commons.
  • The impact on the fisheries sector is huge as it employs about 8 million people and generates Rs. 48,000-Rs. 75,000 crores for the economy.
  • This adversely affected livelihoods, especially of small-scale artisanal fishers, resulting in their increasing alienation, while also leading to the widening of inequalities within society.
  • Promoting the business agendas of other interest groups at the cost of fisher livelihoods would further impoverish a community that already has been pushed to the margins of an unequal society.
  • Land grabbing by private and government actors has been the norm. These actors forget that this space is the common property of coastal villages, towns and cities, and public beaches

Way ahead:

• The new draft CRZ notification has major recommendations that will boost tourism development in coastal areas of the country, which remains untapped due to stringent regulatory framework.
• The relaxations/amendment proposed in the CRZ Notification, 2018 shall, however, come into force only after the respective Coastal Zone Management Programme (CZMP) framed to the CRZ Notification, 2011 have been revised/updated by the States/UTs, as per the provisions of the CRZ, 2018 Notification and approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.
• The government says that the new rules will benefit coastal communities. But fears persist that although the changes are being packaged as pro-poor and pro-tourism, the concerns of the latter will override those of communities.

Conclusion:

India’s coasts are already facing grave threats due to climate change events such as intensive, frequent and unpredictable cyclones and erosion. The relaxation of the CRZ rules in order to boost economic development, albeit necessary, must be done keeping in mind the sustainability of the fragile ecosystems.