Maharashtra Sustainable Climate-Resilient Coastal Protection and Management Project

Approved

Maharashtra is increasingly experiencing climate-related events. Its coastline is characterized by stable rocky cliffs and unstable sandy beaches, estuarine areas, and mangrove forests. The state's narrow coastal plain, which is situated between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, also supports other economic activities such as marine transportation, fishing, agriculture, cultural and recreational tourism. In Maharashtra, coastal erosion is resulting in loss of land for communities affecting livelihoods, and flooding inundation is impacting vulnerable coastal communities, by damaging public and private infrastructure and risking lives particularly among women. The primary natural factors responsible for coastal erosion are (i) change in wave extremes due to increase in frequency and magnitude of extreme events, (ii) changes in river hydrology and sand supply near the estuarine areas, and (iii) disruption in natural littoral sediment transport. In recent years, climate change effects such as sea-level rise, altered frequency, intensity, and track of tropical cyclones have exacerbated the erosion. Human activities and infrastructures along the shoreline, such as wharfs and groynes, harbor jetties and beach mining hinder sediment transport in the littoral zone. Target beneficiaries will be the coastal communities living within the coastal zone.