"The 'pre-draft' is doubly
disappointing as we had high hopes that Mr. Ramesh would ensure a
much improved legal regime that would better regulate destructive
development on the coast, and protect the livelihoods of
traditional fishers", said V.Vivekanandan, Convenor, NCPC. "The
contents of this pre-draft are extremely disappointing as it is
grossly inadequate to control the rampant industrialization on the
Indian coastline. It also fails to address the dwelling and
livelihood rights of the fishing community, providing only token
concessions"
Notably, many of the recommendations
contained in the "Final Frontier Report", submitted by the MS
Swaminathan committee in 2009, have been completely ignored (2). On
the issue of port development, the Swaminathan committee had
recommended a moratorium on new ports until their cumulative
impacts were studied (3). However, the pre-draft makes no effort to
control the growth of ports through a zoning system that keeps port
developments at least 25 km. away from the most critical habitats
(CRZ 1 areas), as suggested by many.
"The issue of the carrying capacity
of the coastline with reference to developmental projects is
completely missing. The proliferation of mega ports near CRZ1 and
other ecologically sensitive areas has been a matter of controversy
for some time now, from Dhamra on the eastern coast, to Mundra and
Tadri on the west. Not only does the pre-draft ignore this burning
issue, it is opening up coastal areas to further unsustainable
development," said Sanjiv Gopal, Oceans Campaign Manager,
Greenpeace India.
There are currently over 300 ports
proposed along the coast of mainland India, of which over 200 are
notified (4). This would translate to roughly a port every 20-25
km! Besides its own impact, port development is invariably
accompanied by other industries, power plants, railway lines,
highways, hotels, SEZs, residential complexes, etc. that can have
multiple detrimental impacts on the coast. The premise for port
expansion on this scale also needs to be questioned given that all
major ports are currently under-utilised and operating below
capacity.
"There has been a consistent demand
to recognise the rights of fishing communities in management and
protection of the coasts. This requires a fundamental shift from
providing concessions to recognising the rights of fishing
communities" said Matanhy Saldanha, Chairperson, National
Fishworkers Forum and former Minister for Tourism, Government of
Goa. "We are calling on the Ministry to incorporate the specific
inputs that have been provided to them by groups such as the NCPC
and the National Fishworkers' Forum, and come out with a
notification that strengthens, not dilutes, the protection of
India's coasts and the communities that depend on them," he
concluded.
For further information, contact
Sanjiv Gopal, Campaign Manager – Oceans, Greenpeace, 
, +91-98455 35416
Matanhy Saldanha, Chairperson, NFF, 
, +91-98221 60941
V.Vivekanandan, Convenor, NCPC and Advisor, SIFFS, 
, +91 98470 84840
Notes to Editor
(1)The NCPC is a platform of fishworker organizations, environmental and conservation groups who are concerned about coastal and marine issues. Its membership is broad based and includes the National Fishworkers Forum, South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies, Tamilnadu – Pondicherry Fisherpeople’s Federation, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group, Greenpeace India, World Wide Fund for Nature, Conservation Action Trust, Centre for Education and Communication, Pondy Citizen’s Action Network, Dakshin Foundation and TRINet, amongst others. Refer to http://greenpeace.in/turtle/docs/letters-to-moef-on-crz-proposals for Greenpeace and NCPC’s submission to the MoEF.
(2)In July 2008, the MoEF issued a draft notification under sub section (1) and clause (v) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986) inviting suggestions and objections from the public. In response, the MoEF received large number of suggestions and objections on this draft notification, which was examined by a committee under the Chairmanship of Prof. M. S.Swaminathan. This committee after examination of the comments received submitted the Report titled Final Frontier”. This Report recommended to let the draft Coastal Management Zone Notification, 2008 lapse and to strengthen the CRZ Notification, 1991. The MoEF accepted the recommendations of this Report and let the draft CMZ Notification, 2008 lapse and undertook public consultations with fishermen and coastal communities and other civil society representatives, across the eight coastal states, between August 2009 and March 2010. These consultations were organized by Centre of Environmental Education (CEE), who submitted the Report of the consultation process in 25th March, 2010
(3)Refer to http://envfor.nic.in/mef/cmz_report.pdf “page 20 - Introduce regulations to manage the proliferation of ports along the coasts, with possible impacts on the coastline, by considering cumulative impacts of these developments.”
(4)The Working Group Report on Shipping and Inland Water Transport for the Eleventh Five Year Plan – http://planningcommission.gov.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp11/wg11_ship.pdf