Lok Sabha Question No. 1665 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-13
Subject: Coastal Land Erosion in Kerala
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shashi Tharoor

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1665

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.02.2023

## Coastal Land Erosion in Kerala

## 1665.   DR. SHASHI THAROOR:

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

- (a) whether the Union Government is aware of a recent study by the University of Kerala that revealed that 647 acres of coastal land along a 58 km. Stretch in Thiruvananthapuram has been lost to the sea in the last fourteen years;
- (b) whether the Government has requested or received any information from the Kerala State Government in this regard, including any conservation or restoration efforts, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  State  Government  of  Kerala  has  sought  financial  assistance  from  the Government for coastal protection works and whether the same has been provided, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d) whether  the  Government  intends  to  set  up  any  Committee,  either  solely  or  in conjunction with the State Government of Kerala, to further look into this matter and suggest urgent remedial and restorative measures, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a)&(b):  Directorate  of  Environment    and  Climate  Change,  Government  of  Kerala  has communicated that they are not aware of the details of the study by the University of Kerala on coast land stretch of Thiruvananthapuram. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has not received any information regarding the study conducted by the University of Kerala.

National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Science  (MoES),  Government  of  India  has  been  monitoring  the  shoreline  changes  for  the entire  Indian  coastline  using  multispectral  satellite  images  along  with  field-surveyed  data since 1990. As a part of this study, the statistics for Thiruvananthapuram District are given below:

|   Land Loss (Ha) |   Land Gain (Ha) |   Erosion (%) |   Stable (%) |   Accretion (%) |
|------------------|------------------|---------------|--------------|-----------------|
|            85.37 |           127.57 |          34.4 |         34.4 |            31.2 |

(c):    No proposal has been received from Government of Kerala for funding under Central Scheme.  However,  following  Preliminary  Projects  Reports  (PPRs)  have  been  accorded consent as per the existing guidelines for the preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) by Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India:

- (i) Kerala  Sustainable  Coastal  Protection  and  Climate  Resilience  planning  Project  for External Assistance from Asian Development Bank ( ADB ) amounting to Rs.3500 Cr., and
- (ii) Additional  Financing  for  Resilient  Kerala  Program  -  Coastal  Protection  Project (phase Ii) for external Assistance from World Bank amounting Rs.1590 Cr.

(d):    Shoreline  protection  is  in  the  mandate  of  State  Governments  and  MoEFCC  has  not received any such proposal from the State Government of Kerala.

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