Lok Sabha Question No. 2361 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-21
Subject: Rising Sea Levels
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: D.K. Suresh, Rattan Lal Kataria, Sumalatha Ambareesh

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2361

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 21 ST  DECEMBER 2022

## RISING SEA LEVELS

- 2361 SHRI D.K. SURESH: SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA: SHRIMATI SUMALATHA AMBAREESH:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is true that the sea level has been rising over the past century and the rate has accelerated in recent decades;
- (b) if so, whether incidents of coastal erosion is rising due to rise in the sea level;
- (c) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to check it;
- (d) whether the  country  has lost any  coastal areas in the last  fifteen  years, if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether the Union Government along with various State Governments is preparing any action-plan to assist and rehabilitate persons displaced or compelled to migrate due to cyclones in the sea and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) Yes  sir.  The  recent  report  from  Intergovernmental  Panel  for  Climate  Change (IPCC-AR6 WG1) has noted that the global mean sea level has been rising at an unprecedentedly rapid pace in recent decades. The average sea level rise increased from 1.3 mm/year between 1901-1971 to 3.7 mm/year between 2006-2018.
- (b) Yes, Sir.
- (c) & (d)   National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is monitoring the shoreline erosion since 1990 using  remote  sensing  data  and  GIS  mapping  techniques.  6,632  km  long  Indian coastline of mainland has been analyzed from 1990 to 2018. It is noted that about 33%  of  the  coastline  is  under  varying  degree  of  erosion,  26  %  is  of  accreting nature and the remaining 41% is in a stable state.  The observed changes may be induced by natural processes including Sea level rise and anthropogenic activities.

The state wise details are given below:

| S.No   | State             | Coast Length       | Erosion   | Erosion   |
|--------|-------------------|--------------------|-----------|-----------|
| S.No   |                   | (in km)            | Km        | %         |
| 1      | Maharashtra       | Gujarat 1945.60    | 537.5     | 27.6      |
| 2      | Maharashtra       | Daman &Diu 31.83   | 11.02     | 34.6      |
| 3      | Maharashtra       | 739.57             | 188.26    | 25.5      |
| 4      | Maharashtra       | Goa 139.64         | 26.82     | 19.2      |
| 5      | Maharashtra       | Karnataka 313.02   | 74.34     | 23.7      |
| 6      | Maharashtra       | Kerala 592.96      | 275.33    | 46.4      |
| 7      | East Coast Andhra | Tamil Nadu 991.47  | 422.94    | 42.7      |
| 8      | East Coast Andhra | Puducherry 41.66   | 23.42     | 56.2      |
| 9      | East Coast Andhra | Pradesh 1027.58    | 294.89    | 28.7      |
| 10     | East Coast Andhra | Odisha 549.50      | 140.72    | 25.6      |
| 11     | East Coast Andhra | West Bengal 534.35 | 323.07    | 60.5      |
| Total  | Total             | 6907.18            | 2318.31   | 33.6      |

- (e) The  Cyclone  Warning  Division  (CWD)  at  India  Meteorological  Department (IMD),  New  Delhi  acts  as  a  Regional  Specialised  Meteorological  Centre  for monitoring, predicting and issuing warning services on tropical cyclones developing  over  north  Indian  Ocean.  IMD  has  three  Area  Cyclone Warning Centres  at  Chennai,  Kolkata  &  Mumbai  and  four Cyclone  Warning  Centres  at Ahmedabad,  Bhubaneswar,Thiruvananthapuram  and  Visakhapatnam  for  carrying out operational warning activities at state level and to carry out related research & development activities.

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