The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Incentives for protection of coastal ecology mooted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 25, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Incentives for protection of coastal ecology mooted

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: To conserve the coastal ecology of the State, especially coral reefs and mangroves, a monetary incentive could be given to people to protect them. Instead of merely banning the mining of coral reefs and exploiting of mangroves, which would be difficult to implement, paying people to protect them could work out better, said Paul. P. Appasamy, Member-Secretary, Centre of Excellence in Environmental Economics, Madras School of Economics.

Delivering a lecture on the coastal ecosystems and human well-being in Tamil Nadu, organised by the School, here on Wednesday, Prof. Appasamy said there was great potential for eco-tourism, considering the ecological assets Tamil Nadu possessed.

They include 2,500 hectares of mangroves, 5,000 hectares of coral reefs, beaches and places of religious and spiritual importance.

With a model like the one Kerala had developed, tourism to the State could be increased considerably.

The lecture, based on a project financed by the State Planning Commission, focussed on the coastal ecosystem of the State, its degradation and the impact it had on the lives of the people who lived and depended upon it.

Kerala coast

Comparing the Kerala coast with that of Tamil Nadu, Prof. Appasamy said the coast in Kerala was considerably more developed than Tamil Nadu’s. This, he said, could be because historically, due to storms and other natural disasters, people along the Tamil Nadu coast had preferred to settle in the hinterland.

The coastal ecology provided hundreds of people with their livelihood. The active fishermen population has increased significantly between 1986 and 1998, leading to a decrease in productivity because there were too many fishermen. Also, technological advancements in fishing had led to an increase in exports. But this phenomenon was adversely affecting marine life.

“The Sethusamudram project needs to look at how shipping is going to affect the Gulf of Mannar, which has been designated as a Marine National Park,” he said.

Over extraction, coastal pollution and rapid coastal development could lead to the degradation of the ecosystem and this needed to be avoided. More data was required and every project on the coast needed to be assessed for environmental impacts, Prof. Appasamy said.

Member-Secretary of the State Planning Commission Girija Vaidyanathan spoke.

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