22 Oct COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT : A MAVERICK APPROACH
COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT : A MAVERICK APPROCH
thrivikramji@gmail.com
The question of coastal zone Management had attracted research experimentation and implementation of corrective measures not withstanding the stupendous coasts, sice the Army Core of Engineers and Beach erosion Board codified the procedures and prescriptions in a manual,. The scientific tempo and attitude of fighting with nature and conquering the natural forces to the benefit of human are very well reflected in the manual.
However, during the early part of the second half of this century, the fact that natural system are very complex and their understanding by humans are either partial or incomplete and excessive tampering with any part of the natural system would lead to irreversible damage to the components of the system and hence to the disadvantage of humans were quickly realized and appreciated by the scientific community.
Nevertheless, under coastal zone management programme, when it came to protection of coastal property, installations and populations along the coastal area, we still continue to follow the prescriptions of the pre-environmental-awareness days in that structures like seawalls and groynes are being built at very tall coasts. It is suggested that the ground rules or coastal zone management programme must reviewed and revised appropriately in the light of the new philosophy of living in harmony with nature instead of existing after the conquest of the natural processes or forces.
Based on this philosophy, a new guideline is proposed for the protection of installations, property and populations along the coastal area from the calamitous beach erosion- one of the remedies of prevention of beach erosion singularly aims at building of seawalls and grovnes at extremely exorbitant coasts, irrespective of the nature of the land capability, and of the installations needing protection,
Under the new philosophy, the protection of eroding beaches has to be rendered on two different lines, viz., the active approach property along the backshore of the beaches are protected by building seawalls and/or groyens. The value of the property will be significant like the harbours, gun batteries, industrial establishments and monuments.
Under the passive approach beach protection is one secondary importance only. Steps have to be initiated to protect the people and their property by building proper shelters in the backshore of the eroding beaches and sufficiently away from the reach of the wave attack. These shelters are to be in the style of the storm shelters built by the Government along he bay of Bengal coast of Andhra Pradesh. The beach erosion shelters are to be built by the capital that normally is utilized in the construction of seawalls/and groynes. Further creation of such permanent shelters or houses would help in the maintenance of an esplanade of the beach area free of any construction or installation.
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