Amid stiff opposition from scientists, advocacy groups, and fisherfolk, the State government has sought further easing of the Coastal Regulation Zone norms to reduce the No Development Zone (NDZ) for the thickly populated coastal areas in the State.
In its suggestions on the draft CRZ notification, 2018 e-mailed to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change on Thursday, the government has cited the high population density in the CRZ- 3 zones to recommend reduction in the NDZ. A meeting convened by the government to collect feedback on the draft notification had come up with the demand to bring down the NDZ to 20 m.
The draft notification has divided the CRZ- 3 zone into two categories and proposed different norms for their development. For coastal areas with a population density of 2,161 per sq km, the NDZ was reduced to 50 metres from the 200 metres in the CRZ 2011 notification.
A highly placed official said the high population density in the coastal areas in Kerala had dictated the government’s demand to reduce the NDZ further.
The government’s response also included suggestions to bring down the NDZ for islands along the coast and exclude private property from the mangrove buffer area of 50 m from the coast.
The draft notification is based on the report of an expert committee set up by the Central government to review the CRZ notification, 2011. The committee headed by Shailesh Nayak was constituted in 2014 after various States, including Kerala, moved the Centre seeking a dilution of CRZ norms to take up developmental activities and housing projects along the coast.
Conservation aspects
Scientists and advocacy groups feel that the revised notification had sidestepped the conservation aspects and ignored the concerns raised by coastal communities. Fishermen have also opposed the proposed overhaul of the CRZ norms, terming it as an infringement of their livelihood rights. They fear that it would promote commercialisation in protected zones and endanger the fragile coastal environment.
Meanwhile, the National Fishworkers Forum has urged the Centre to withdraw the draft notification and come up with a new legislation after taking stakeholder communities into confidence. It said the move to permit tourism facilities in CRZ-3 areas contradicted the proposal to reduce the NDZ to 50 m.
