Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav on Saturday said there is a need to build the resilience of communities living in coastal areas of the country.
Mr.Yadav was speaking at the first National Conference on Sustainable Coastal Management in India here. This conference was organized by the Green Climate Fund supported project – Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities.
Officials from all 13 coastal states of India have attended the conference to focus on the three interrelated themes of coastal and marine biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation and coastal pollution.
“With the changing climate, we need to build the resilience of communities living in coastal areas.” said the Union Minister.
He said the Indian coastline is of immense strategic, economic and social importance to the country. Spanning 7,500 kilometres, it is the seventh longest in the world, and is home to 20 percent of the country’s population. Three of India’s four metropolitan cities lie on the coast, he pointed out.
Mr.Yadav said there is a great diversity of ecosystems within our coastal regions that support more than 17,000 species of plants and animals.
“This conference comes at an important time as India has submitted its revised NDCs and seeks to create multi-sectoral partnerships to meet these targets” he added
The conference was organised with an objective to bring all the 13 coastal states under one roof to focus on three interrelated themes of coastal and Marine biodiversity, climate mitigation and adoption and coastal pollution.
Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey said such conferences are important to bring the conversation of resilience and sustainability to the country’s coastal areas.
He said data-driven policies, and management frameworks, participatory conservation models and convergence between stakeholders are the key pillars for effective coastal management.
Odisha Minister of Forest and Environment Pradip Kumar Amat and other dignitaries were present at the conference
A program on Enhancing Climate Resilience of Coastal Communities is being implemented in partnership with UNDP in the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the initiative is integrating ecosystem and community-based approaches to adaptation into coastal management and planning.
