The State ENVIS Hub : Status of Environment & Related Issues - Gujarat

A: ENVIS Stands for Environment Information System

A: ENVIS is a decentralized system with a network of distributed subject oriented centers ensuring integration of national efforts in environmental information collection, collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination to all concerned. The focus of ENVIS since inception has been on providing environmental information to decision makers, policy planners, scientists and engineers, research workers, etc. all over the country.

A: There are total 68 ENVIS Centres all over India, which are assigned with different subjects and topics.

A: The details and list of other Envis centres can be obtained from the website of Environment Information System. http://www.envis.nic.in

A: The Ministry of Environment and Forests had issued the Coastal Regulation Zone CRZ) Notification on 19.2.1991 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, with the aim to provide comprehensive measures for the protection and on servation of our coastal environment. However, over the last two decades the following issues emerged while implementing the 1991 Notification:

• The 1991 Notification stipulated uniform regulations for the entire Indian coastline which includes 5500 Km coastline of the mainland and 2000 Km of coastline of the islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep. It, therefore, failed to take into account that the Indian coastline is highly diverse in terms of biodiversity, hydrodynamic conditions, demographic patterns, natural resources, geomorphological and geological features.

• In the 1991 Notification, no clear procedure for obtaining CRZ clearance was laid down and no time lines stipulated. Furthermore, there was no format given for the submission of clearance applications.

• It may be noted that the 1991 Notification, also did not provide a post clearance monitoring mechanism or a clear cut enforcement mechanism to check violations.

• The 1991 Notification sought to regulate all developmental activities in the inter-tidal area and within 500 metres on the landward side. No concrete steps were indicated in the 1991 Notification with regard to the pollution emanating from land based activities.

• The restrictive nature of the 1991 Notification caused hardships to the persons/ communities living in certain ecologically sensitive coastal stretches. These included slum dwellers and other persons living in dilapidated and unsafe buildings in Mumbai, communities living in islands in the backwaters of Kerala, local communities living along the coast of Goa and other traditional coastal inhabitants.

The 1991 Notification has been amended almost 25 times in consideration of requests made by various State Governments, Central Ministries, NGOs etc. In addition, there are also several office orders issued by Ministry of Environment and Forests clarifying certain provisions. The frequent changes to the 1991 Notification have been consolidated in the 2011 Notification.
The 2011 Notification takes into account and address all the above issues in a comprehensive manner, relying on the recommendations made in the “Final Frontier” Report by the Committee chaired by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan on Coastal Regulation and the findings of the various consultations held in various coastal States and Union territories. The Minister of State (I/C) personally presided over the consultations in Goa, Chennai, Puri, Kochi and Mumbai.

A: The main objectives of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2011 are:

• To ensure livelihood security to the fishing communities and other local communities living in the

• To conserve and protect coastal stretches and;

• To promote development in a sustainable manner based on scientific principles, taking into account the dangers of natural hazards in the coastal areas and sea level rise due to global warming.

Q: What are the new provisions contained in the 2011 Notification to benefit the fisher-folk community?

A: Since the fishing communities traditionally live in the coastal areas, they have been given primary importance when drafting the CRZ Notification 2011.

One of the stated objectives of the Notification is “to ensure livelihood security to the fisher communities and other local communities, living in the coastal areas and to promote development through sustainable manner based on scientific principles taking into account the dangers of natural hazards in the coastal areas, sea level rise due to global warming.”

The following are the provisions in the 2011 Notification that address the issues relating to fishermen community:-

Water area up to 12 nautical miles and the tidal influenced water bodies have been included under the Coastal Regulation Zone areas in order to:

• Control the discharge of untreated sewage, effluents and the disposal of solid wastes as such activities endanger the fish and their ecosystem;

• Conserve and protect habitats in the marine area such as corals and coral reefs and associated biodiversity, marine sanctuaries and biosphere reserves, sea grass beds etc. which act as spawning, nursery and rearing grounds for fish and fisheries;

• Regulate activities in the marine and coastal waters such as dredging, sand mining, discharge of waste from ships, construction like groynes, breakwaters, etc. including reclamation which have serious impacts on fishing and allied activities;

·        Enable studies of the coastal and marine waters with regard to the impact of climate change and the occurrence of disasters which have serious impacts on the livelihood and property of the fisher-folk communities;

It may be noted that no restrictions are being imposed on any fishing activities and allied activities of the traditional fishing communities in this area.

• At several coastal stretches of the country the fi shermen and their dwelling units are in danger due to erosion which is occurring primarily due to manmade activities. The development of such manmade foreshore activities shall be regulated after identifying and demarcating the coast as falling in the high eroding category, the medium eroding category or the stable sites category.

• While preparing the Coastal Zone Management Plans the infrastructures essential for fishing communities must be clearly demarcated and fishing Zones in the water bodies and the fish breeding areas shall also be clearly marked.

• The 2011 Notification requires the Coastal Zone Management Authorities to invite comments on the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan from stakeholders. This will ensure that for the fi rst time, local communities including fishermen communities will have a say in the preparation of the CZMPs.

• The Notification allows infrastructural facilities for the local fishing communities to be constructed in the CRZ-III area.

• Reconstruction, repair works of dwelling units of local communities including fisheries in accordance with local Town and Country Planning Regulations has been made permissible.

• In CRZ-III areas where 0-200 metres is a No Development Zone (NDZ), to meet The demands of dwelling units of traditional coastal communities including 8 fisher-folk, the NDZ has been reduced to 100 metres. Hence, dwelling units of such communities can be constructed 100-200 metres from High Tide Line along the seafront with the approval of the State Government and the MoEF.

Q: Which are the Ramsar Sites in Gujarat?

A: The declared Ramsar cites in Gujarat is:

• Nal sarovar, dist.: Ahmedabad

Q: Which are the biosphere reserves in Gujarat?

A: The Indian government has established 17 Biosphere Reserves of India, which protect larger areas of natural and often include one or more National Parks and/or preserves, along buffer zones that are open to some economic uses. Protection is granted not only to the flora and fauna of the protected region, but also to the human communities who inhabit these regions, and their ways of life. Of these two were located in Gujarat. There is

• Great Rann of Kutch Biosphere Reserve

Q: What is the costline length of Gujarat state?

A:  1600 k.m.

Q: How many sanctuaries and National park in Gujarat?

A: They are as following:
National park : 4
Sanctuaries : 23

Q: What is ISBEID?

A: The Indian State Level Basic Environment Information Database (ISBEID) is a web enabled software developed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India under the Environmental Information System (ENVIS) Project. The software is to enable the State ENVIS Centre’s on Status of Environment and Related Issues to feed data directly into the database server using the web-interface in the ENVIS Portal.

Q: How have the coastal zones been classified under the 2011 Notification?

A: In the 1991 Notification the CRZ area was classified as CRZ-I (ecological sensitive), CRZ-II (built-up area), CRZ-III (Rural area) and CRZ-IV (water area). In the 2011 Notification the above classification is retained. The only change is the inclusion pf CRZ-IV, which includes the water areas up to the territorial waters and the tidal-influenced water bodies. For the very first time, a separate draft Island Protection Zone Notification has been issued for protection of the islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Q: What are the coastal areas that qualify as falling within the CRZ-I category?

A: The CRZ Notification, 2011 clearly lists out the areas that fall within the category of CRZ-I. It includes:-

(i) Ecologically sensitive areas and the geomorphological features that play a primary role in maintaining the integrity of the coast.

•   50  Mangroves, in case mangrove area is more than 1000 square metres, a buffer area of  meters shall be provided;

•   Corals and coral reefs and associated biodiversity;

•   Sand Dunes;

•   Mudflats which are biologically active;

•   National parks, marine parks, sanctuaries, reserve forests, wildlife habitats and other protected areas under the provisions of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (53 of 1972), the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (69 of 1980) or Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986); including Biosphere Reserves encompassing;

•   Salt Marshes;

•   Turtle nesting grounds;

•   Horse shoe crabs habitats;

•   Sea grass beds;

•   Nesting grounds of birds;

•   Areas or structures of archaeological importance and heritage site

 (ii) The area between Low Tide Line and High Tide Line.