India’s coast is eroding as states sit on shoreline management plans

Arichal Munai Beach lies at the eastern tip of Rameswaram Island, in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, just past the abandoned village of Dhanushkodi. Looking out onto the Gulf of Mannar with nothing but sea between it and Sri Lanka’s northern shore, Arichal Munai offers a picturesque view of clear blue waters, and a rather less picturesque view of rocks bolstered by concrete.

Rows of such rocks have been installed along this coastline in an attempt to protect the shore from the waves eroding it. But critics say these hard structures are diverting the problem to nearby areas and causing the sea to creep closer to fishers’ hamlets in other parts of Tamil Nadu’s coastline.

“With the beach replaced by waters, we struggle to park our boats,” says G Anand, a local fisher at Dhanushkodi. The 53-year-old once supported these defences but now regards them as a problem. “The population of turtles that comes to the shore for breeding has also been reducing over the years.”

In 2022, India’s highest environmental court, the National Green Tribunal, ordered regional governments to try and avoid hard shoreline defences where possible, and to implement comprehensive plans to manage their coasts. But states and union territories are still building these concrete...

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