Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav inaugurated the first National Conference on Sustainable Coastal Management in India in Bhubaneswar today.

This conference is being organized by the Green Climate Fund supported project – Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities.

The objective of the conference is to bring officials from all 13 coastal states of India under one roof to focus on the three interrelated themes of coastal and marine biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation and coastal pollution.

This endeavour is aimed atcreating a vibrant network of stakeholders who will continue to engage with each other on the topics but also on cross-cutting themes such as coastal governance, technologies and innovation as well as domestic and international finance.

“The Indian coastline is of immense strategic, economic and social importance to the country. Spanning 7,500 kilometres, it is the seventh longest in the world, and is home to 20 percent of the country’s population. Three of our four metropolitan cities lie on the coast.There is a great diversity of ecosystems within our coastal regions that support more than 17,000 species of plants and animals.  With the changing climate, we need to build the resilience of communities living in coastal areas.” said Shri Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

“This conference comes at an important time as India has submitted its revised NDCs and seeks to create multi-sectoral partnerships to meet these targets” he added

Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, said:“Such conferences are important to bring the conversations of resilience and sustainability to our country’s coastal areas.  This was also envisioned in the Honourable Prime Minister’s LiFE movement.”

Sustainable coastal management is recognised as need of the hour. Data-driven policies and management frameworks, participatory conservation models, and convergence between stakeholders are the key pillars for effective coastal management.

A programme on Enhancing Climate Resilience of Coastal Communities is being implemented in partnership with UNDP in the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the initiative is integrating ecosystem and community-based approaches to adaptation into coastal management and planning.

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HS