Not AvailableKeeping in view the ecological importance of coastal ecosystem, an appraisal was
carried out to explore the existing characteristic features, problems and status of
erosion and its remedial measures for the conservation and management of
valuable coastal resources in respect of three states i.e.West Bengal, Odisha and
Andhra Pradesh in the east coast. It is reported that 8.94 Mha area is under coastal
belts in these three states. The inherent problems associated with this ecosystem
are high population growth, over exploitation of natural resources, water logging,
flood, cyclones, drought and salinity due to regular intrusion of sea water
through tidal effects, congestion of drainage, water erosion, sand dunes, wind
erosion etc. Odisha coast alone accounts for 40% of the total disturbance that
affected East Coast of India. In West Bengal, coastal area of Sundarban is
affected due to soil acidity problems and about 0.65 Mha land is facing salinity
problem. Similarly in Odisha, 0.4 Mha is affected by salinity problem
spreading over four coastal districts of Odisha. The potential soil loss reported
for Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal are 407, 144 and 17 and annual
EI of 400 – 600, 600 – 800 and 600 – 800 MJ.mm. ha . h , respectively.Major
portion of the coastal areas ofWest Bengal, Odisha andAndhra Pradesh falls in
soil loss category of < 5 t ha yr . The extent of diminishing mangrove cover
reported for Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh are 221, 2152 and 353
km , respectively. It has been reported that due to one meter rise in sea water
level, the area inundated and population affected in Odisha, West Bengal and
Andhra Pradesh coasts shall be 0.81% and 1.76%, 1.88% and 2.35% and 0.19%
and 0.93%, respectively.While discussing about the various inherent problems,
adoption of suitable conservation measures is inevitable for the protection and
management of this vulnerable ecosystem.Not Availabl
