Erosion present in 34% of nation's coastline: Centre

Context

About 34 per cent of the coastline was under varying degrees of erosion for the past 28 years, as per recent update from the Centre.

Key-highlights

• The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) had been monitoring shoreline erosion using remote sensing data and GIS mapping techniques since 1990. 
• A total, of 6,907.18 km long coastline of the mainland has been analyzed for the period from 1990 to 2018 and it is observed that (33.6 per cent) of the coastline is under varying degrees of erosion for the past 28 years.
  
  

Which state’s coastline is more vulnerable?

• The West Bengal coastline has been particularly vulnerable: 60 per cent of the coastline underwent erosion during the period, followed by Puducherry (56 per cent); Kerala (41 per cent); Tamil Nadu (41 per cent); Andhra Pradesh (28 per cent); Gujarat including Daman and Diu (26 per cent); Odisha (26 per cent); Karnataka (24 per cent); Maharashtra (22 per cent); and Goa (19 per cent). 
• Odisha coast expanded by 51 per cent, the report said.
• This was followed by the coast of Andhra Pradesh, which expanded 48 per cent; Karnataka (26 per cent); West Bengal (25 per cent); Tamil Nadu (22 per cent); Kerala (21 per cent); Gujarat including Daman and Diu (20 per cent); Goa(14 per cent; Maharashtra (10 per cent) and  Puducherry (8 per cent).