Thiruvananthapuram: India needs a system of regular monitoring and mathematical modelling to study sea level rise and its impact on the coastal ecosystem and marine environment, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Shailesh Nayak said here on Friday. Delivering the keynote address at a national conference on Coastal Processes, Resources and Management organised by the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS), he said it was important to look at all the components of sea level rise like ocean temperature, salinity and density of sea water and shape of the ocean basin, apart from factors like melting of glaciers.
Key factors
“Ocean temperature has been rising at the rate of 0.1 to 0.2 degrees per decade. Temperature increase has been recorded at depths up to 2,000 metres. The shape of the ocean basin and the changes caused to it by earthquakes are other factors influencing sea level rise. Detailed studies are essential to remove the uncertainties in understanding coastal processes, ” Mr. Nayak said.
Blooms, a bane
Mr. Nayak stressed the need for a robust programme to monitor algal blooms that are appearing along the Indian coast at regular intervals. “These blooms deplete oxygen level and affect fish stocks.” He said rapid development and population growth in coastal areas had degraded the environment. “Ports and other infrastructure have developed all along the coast. This, consequently, has increased pressure on the environment. The country has plans to invest Rs.8,000 crore on the development of coastal areas over the next two decades.” Mr. Nayak said the population growth in coastal cities was twice that of other areas. Migration to coastal cities is also high, he noted. “The twin factors of development and population growth have led to salinity intrusion, groundwater depletion, sea level rise, coastal erosion and lower water quality. The situation needs a dynamic process integrating the efforts of the government, scientific community and the public for coastal zone management.”
Waste dumping
Water quality too was a matter of increasing concern in India. “Dumping of waste water has altered, fragmented or destroyed the ecosystem and resulted in the loss of biodiversity. As many as 100 to 1,000 species are being lost every year,” he said. He also highlighted the need to maintain the structural and functional integrity of ecosystems. “Half the coast of Kerala faces heavy erosion. One major reason for the erosion is the absence of mangroves. There is need to investigate whether mangroves were destroyed or whether they were not present at all.” He observed that Gujarat had a Rs.4,000-crore industry based on mangroves.
T. Radhakrishna, director-in-charge, CESS, former director M. Baba and N.P. Kurian, scientist, were present on the occasion.
Source: The Hindu, Dated: 6.02.2010
Key factors
“Ocean temperature has been rising at the rate of 0.1 to 0.2 degrees per decade. Temperature increase has been recorded at depths up to 2,000 metres. The shape of the ocean basin and the changes caused to it by earthquakes are other factors influencing sea level rise. Detailed studies are essential to remove the uncertainties in understanding coastal processes, ” Mr. Nayak said.
Blooms, a bane
Mr. Nayak stressed the need for a robust programme to monitor algal blooms that are appearing along the Indian coast at regular intervals. “These blooms deplete oxygen level and affect fish stocks.” He said rapid development and population growth in coastal areas had degraded the environment. “Ports and other infrastructure have developed all along the coast. This, consequently, has increased pressure on the environment. The country has plans to invest Rs.8,000 crore on the development of coastal areas over the next two decades.” Mr. Nayak said the population growth in coastal cities was twice that of other areas. Migration to coastal cities is also high, he noted. “The twin factors of development and population growth have led to salinity intrusion, groundwater depletion, sea level rise, coastal erosion and lower water quality. The situation needs a dynamic process integrating the efforts of the government, scientific community and the public for coastal zone management.”
Waste dumping
Water quality too was a matter of increasing concern in India. “Dumping of waste water has altered, fragmented or destroyed the ecosystem and resulted in the loss of biodiversity. As many as 100 to 1,000 species are being lost every year,” he said. He also highlighted the need to maintain the structural and functional integrity of ecosystems. “Half the coast of Kerala faces heavy erosion. One major reason for the erosion is the absence of mangroves. There is need to investigate whether mangroves were destroyed or whether they were not present at all.” He observed that Gujarat had a Rs.4,000-crore industry based on mangroves.
T. Radhakrishna, director-in-charge, CESS, former director M. Baba and N.P. Kurian, scientist, were present on the occasion.
Source: The Hindu, Dated: 6.02.2010
No comments:
Post a Comment