Physiography

The coastal areas of Gujarat especially the villages lying within 20-25 km from the seashore are suffering from the problem of salinity ingress. Most of the rivulets that drain this region like Goma and Somat are seasonal at best and their water does not last beyond monsoons. The other aquifers like ponds, which get water from these rivers, also dry up as early as October.

  The law pertaining to coastal spaces – the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 1991 specifically decides what people can and cannot do on the coastal stretches of the country.

Besides its own impact, port development is often accompanied by other activities such as the location of industries, power plants, railway lines, highways, hotels, SEZs, residential complexes, etc., that have multiple detrimental impacts – environmental, social and erosion related.

Marine-coastal ecosystems and coastal communities are poorly represented in the public debates on India’s social and environmental problems. Coastal and marine ecosystems are the backbone of a fisheries economy that supports livelihoods of millions directly and several more indirectly.

Community groups such as fishers and other coastal populations enjoyed customary or traditional rights to exploit resources and to fish in adjacent coastal areas. The current state of fisheries finds its genesis in the modernization programme introduced by the Government of India to ‘develop’ the sector with the focus for development through the maximisation of production. In the late 1970s, modern fishing methods threatened the livelihoods of these communities and coastal ecosystems. Mechanised craft and gear, principally trawlers with bottom trawling gear, severely impacted fishing stocks.

Fisherfolk in India have struggled for greater control over the seas and resource management, struggles which have been directed both inward as well as against the State. The conflict over the coastal space is mostly between fishing communities and other new users and interest groups. Access to coastal resources is now being thrown open to all, giving a new meaning to the idea of ‘coastal commons’. There are very clear linkages between the rights to the coast and the right to fish as without the former, the latter will be difficult to operationalise and eventually rendered meaningless.

The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 1991 has been the only legislation with some mention and reference to customary rights of fishing communities on land in the coastal zone. However, it did not contain provisions and details to ascertain or establish these rights. Despite this, fishing communities have seen the CRZ in its 1991 form as an instrument in their favour as it regulates all activities that can potentially impact the coast and community livelihoods. However, the twenty one odd amendments to the CRZ Notification were mostly in favour of development pressures and special interest lobbies.

This backdrop forms the driving force behind this report which seeks to argue a case for according coastal land rights to fishing communities.

Beginning in 2005, WWF-India has conducted dozens of personal interviews to record how climate change impacts people's lives here and now. These perceptions demanded that s

 It was found in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma and Bhutan, but is now extinct in these countries. Today, it is seen in a few places in Nepal. In India the major population of Gharials is found in the Girwa and Chambal rivers. It faces many threats to its survival which include fishing, linking of rivers, large irrigation canals etc.

Dear friends,

We are all aware of the immense ecological, cultural and social significance of rivers originating and flowing through the Western Ghats. This includes source regions of East flowing rivers like Krishna, Godavari and Cauvery and the source, riparian and estuarine region of all West flowing rivers.

We are lucky to still have some of the very few and very rare 'free flowing rivers' in the country. Most of the rivers in our country have been dammed and diverted. This has changed the ecological and physical characteristics of these rivers completely. Today, it is difficult for us to visualise the amazing range of ecological goods and services that an undammed, free flowing river can provide. Some such rivers in the Western Ghats are Shastri, Aghanashini, Gargai and Seetha Nadi.

Article and Image Courtesy: Down To Earth
Author: 

A barren district of Rajasthan is seeing development, thanks to rains last year and flood in 2006.

Administration has revived a man-made pond in Nagarda village that was drying up.
Photo: Sayantoni Palchoudhuri