Lok Sabha Question No. 1907 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-29
Subject: Flood Risks due to Rising Sea Levels
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Sisir Kumar Adhikari, Rajiv Pratap Rudy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1907

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2019

## Flood Risks due to Rising Sea Levels

## 1907.   SHRI SISIR KUMAR ADHIKARI: SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether mean sea levels have risen in the last decade and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;
- (b) whether the Indian cities along the coastal areas are at high flood risks due to rising sea levels and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  prepared  any  survey/report  in  this  regard  and  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has taken any steps for prevention and disaster management on account of rising sea levels; and
- (e) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  other  corrective  measures  taken  by  the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a)    According  to  the  Special  Report  on  'The  Ocean  and  Cryosphere  in  a  Changing  Climate' released in September 2019 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) is rising, with acceleration in recent decades due to increasing rates of ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, as well as continued glacier mass loss and ocean thermal expansion. Total GMSL rise for 1902-2015 is 0.16 metre (likely range 0.12-0.21 metre). The rate of GMSL rise for 2006-2015 of 3.6 mm per year was about 2.5 times the rate for 1901-1990 of 1.4 mm per year.

(b) and (c) According to the information received from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the rate of change in the sea levels estimated from the long term data (monthly mean sea levels) obtained from the sea level gauges installed at 10 major ports are given in the table below.

|   Sl. No. | Location        |   Rate of change of sea- level (mm/year) | Duration of data used (years)   |
|-----------|-----------------|------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
|         1 | Chennai         |                                     0.33 | 1916-2005                       |
|         2 | Diamond Harbour |                                     5.16 | 1948-2005                       |
|         3 | Haldia          |                                     2.89 | 1972-2005                       |
|         4 | Kandla          |                                     3.18 | 1950-2005                       |
|         5 | Kochi           |                                     1.3  | 1939-2005                       |
|         6 | Mumbai          |                                     0.74 | 1878-2005                       |
|         7 | Paradeep        |                                     1.03 | 1966-2005                       |
|         8 | Port Blair      |                                     2.2  | 1916-1964                       |
|         9 | Okha            |                                     1.5  | 1964-1991                       |
|        10 | Vizag           |                                     0.97 | 1937-2005                       |

Since  no  long  term  data  on  land  subsidence  or  emergence  are  available  for  these locations,  the  rate  of  increase  of  sea  level  due  to  climate  change  cannot  be  attributed  with certainty. For example, the higher rate of sea level increase at Diamond Harbour is also due to the  larger  land  subsidence  happening  there.  The  same  may  apply  to  Kandla,  Haldia  and  Port Blair as well. On an average, the sea level along the Indian coast is considered to be rising at about 1.70 mm/year meaning thereby that during the past 50 years, the sea level along the Indian coasts  has  risen  by  8.5  cm.  Further,  satellite  altimetry  and  model  simulations  showed  that  the North Indian Ocean (NIO) also exhibits decadal variability. During the last decade (2003-2013) it  experienced sea level rise at a rate of 6.1 mm/year. The rising sea levels can exacerbate the coastal inundation along low lying areas during the extreme events such as tsunami, storm surge, coastal flooding and coastal erosion. However, the coastal areas that might get inundated due to the rising sea level need to be evaluated based on their elevation above mean sea level.

(d) and (e) The Government is implementing National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) which  comprises  eight  missions  in  specific  areas  of  solar  energy,  energy  efficiency,  water, agriculture, Himalayan ecosystem, sustainable habitat, green India and strategic knowledge on climate change. NAPCC provides an overarching framework for all climate actions. Thirty three States/Union Territories (UTs) have prepared their State Action Plan on Climate Change in line with  NAPCC taking into  account  State's/UT's  specific  issues  relating  to  climate  change.  The Government is also implementing the scheme, 'National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change' to  support  adaptation  measures  of  States/UTs  in  areas  that  are  particularly  vulnerable  to  the adverse impacts of climate change.

The Government has taken a number of initiatives in protecting India's coastal areas and coastal communities, which include:

- (i) Formulation  of  the  National  Disaster  Management  Plan  (NDMP)  to  assist  all stakeholders  including  State  Governments  in  disaster  risk  management  of  various hazards including hazards related to climate change. The revised NDMP, approved in  October  2019,  also  highlights  sea  level  rise  and  possible  coastal  inundation  in order to sensitize stakeholders on this aspect.
- (ii) Regulatory measures like the issuance of Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2019 and the Island Protection Zone Notification 2019 to regulate high impact activities on the coast and in maintaining coastal sustainability.
- (iii) Under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the 'Erosion line' projected to the next 100 years based on the annual rate of erosion computed from high resolution aerial photographs and satellite images has been delineated over the entire coastline.
- (iv) ICZM Project also includes development of the Shoreline Management Plans by the State  Governments  for  five  coastal  stretches  namely,  Gulf  of  Kachchh  (Gujarat), Gopalpur  to  Chilika  (Odisha),  Paradip  to  Dhamra  (Odisha),  Digha  to  Sankarpur (West Bengal) and Sagar Island (West Bengal).
- (v) A Shoreline Change Atlas for the Indian Coast based on satellite data of 1989-91 and 2004-06  on  1:25000  scale  and  similarly  a  Coastal  Vulnerability  Index  (CVI)  on 1:100,000  scale  for  the  entire  country  has  been  prepared.  A  web-based  coastal service  on  shoreline  change  has  been  developed  to  disseminate  information  to  all stakeholders using public domain tools.
- (vi) National  Institute  of  Ocean  Technology  (NIOT),  Chennai  has  completed  two demonstration shore protection projects at in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry for beach restoration.
- (vii) The  Government  has  also  initiated  a  project  co-funded  by  Global  Climate  Fund (GCF) across the States of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha on enhancing climate resilience of India's coastal communities in these States.

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