New Delhi: The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai, an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has been monitoring the shoreline erosion since 1990 using remote sensing data and GIS mapping techniques.
About 6,907.18 km long Indian coastline of the mainland has been analyzed from 1990 to 2018. The study found that 140.72 km of Odisha coastline suffered shoreline erosion during the period, Union Minister for Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh said in Lok Sabha recently.
Notably, about 34 percent of the coastline is under varying degree of erosion, 26% is of accreting nature and the remaining 40% is in a stable state, he said.
Admitting rise in sea level, Dr.Singh said sea level rise is an increase in the level of the world’s oceans because of global warming caused due to burning of fossil fuels and emissions of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. This results in oceans getting warmer and sea levels rising worldwide.
As per the 6th Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), relative to 1995-2014, the global mean sea level is expected to rise by 2100 is 0.28-0.55 m under the very low greenhouse emission scenario (SSP1- 1.9), 0.44-0.76 m under the intermediate emission scenario (SSP2-4.5) and 0.98-1.88 under the very high emission scenario (SSP5-8.5).
The 15th Finance Commission has recommended the creation of National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) and State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) comprising Mitigation Fund at the National and State level (NDMF/SDMF) and Response Fund at the National and State level (NDRF/ SDRF) for the award period from 2021- 22 to 2022-26.
The Commission has also made specific recommendations for mitigation measures to prevent erosion under NDMF and resettlement of displaced people affected by erosion under NDRF, he pointed out while replying to a question asked by BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi.
At present, the NDMA is in the process of preparing the suitable norms for mitigation measures and developing a policy to deal with the extensive displacement of people, he informed.
The Union Minister, in a reply to Rajya Sabha, said the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information &Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, an autonomous institute of MoES, has assessed sea level change rate using tide gauge data at Paradeep (Odisha coast).
Analysis of Paradeep port tide gauge data showed a sea level change rate of 1.03 mm/year based on monthly mean data pertaining to the years 1966- 2005.
However, he said, no specific study has been conducted on increasing tidal waves on the Odisha coast.