PANAJI
When the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, a research institute of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, undertook a survey to map sand dunes, a crucial component of Goa’s eco-system, one would have expected them to be thorough in their survey.
However, it has now come to light from the 279th Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) meeting on December 10 and 14 that the NCSCM’s survey “missed” out huge areas of sand dunes in the State, so much so that its assessment vastly differs from the expert committee of GCZMA.
While the NCSCM identified 29.35 lakh sq mtrs of sand dunes, the GCZMA expert committee has now identified 75.42 lakh sq. mtrs of sand dunes in the State, a massive addition of 46.06 lakh sq. mtrs of sand dunes from the NCSCM survey.
THE PURPOSE
The need to survey sand dunes in the State was felt following a petition before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2014, accusing the GCZMA of issuing permissions for development activities on sand dunes.
The GCZMA admitted it did not have a mapping of sand dunes in Goa and then in 2015, a similar petition was filed by Cavelossim Villagers Forum before the NGT.
The NGT in 2015 directed the GCZMA to consult the Ministry of Environment and Forest to identify sand dunes in the State. The GCZMA later engaged the NCSCM to conduct this survey.
In 2018, the NCSCM conducted a fresh survey on account of the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for Goa and largely incorporated the findings from the earlier survey.
The NCSCM then identified 29,35,662 sq mtrs of sand dunes in the State, after a ground-truthing exercise across entire Goa within barely four days (November 20-23, 2018).
THE SURVEY
Following the public hearing on the draft CZMP in July, the GCZMA constituted two expert committees “ one each for North and South Goa “ to ground truth and appraise representations on sand dunes, high tide lines and other matters. Both expert committees each conducted intensive ground-truthing over 15 days, between August 12 and September 22 covering 28 coastal villages and towns from Querim-Pernem to Polem-Canacona. Local panchayat and municipal bodies were also consulted in the process.
Both committees verified additional sand dunes by adopting criteria framed by NCSCM’s experts in 2013. The screening criteria for coastal sand dunes was height of over 2 metres above the beach profile, coupled with geomorphological details.
The committee extracted sand dunes shown in draft CZMP report and superimposed them onto Google maps hybrid layer. Georeferencing of draft maps was done manually using georeferencing tools with roads and other geographic features being reference points.
The additional sand dunes verified from inputs received from public consultation were georeferenced and plotted in shapefile format. The area and GPS coordinates of additional dunes were derived using GIS software.
The sand dunes that met the NCSCM experts’ criteria were mapped and superimposed onto Google maps hybrid layer, to ensure their conservation and management and to enable their sustainable development.
DISCREPANCIES
There have been several discrepancies between the NCSCM and the GCZMA surveys. The NCSCM identified 29.35 lakh sq mtrs of sand dunes, while the GCZMA expert committee identified 75.42 lakh sq. mtrs of sand dunes in the State, a massive difference of 46.06 lakh sq. mtrs of sand dunes from the NCSCM survey.
The biggest discrepancy was found in Cavelossim, with the GCZMA expert committee finding an ‘additional’ 10.03 lakh sq mtrs of sand dunes, followed by Candolim (3.52 lakh sq. mtrs), Panaji (3.31 lakh sq mtrs) and Varca (3.24 lakh sq mtrs).
Incidentally, while the NCSCM could find no sand dunes in Paliem, Agonda, Palolem and Loliem, the GCZMA expert committee identified sand dunes in Paliem (3,248 sq. mtrs), Agonda (9,118 sq mtrs), Palolem (1,53,695 sq mtrs) and Loliem (67,261 sq mtrs).
The concern raised over the huge discrepancy had prompted the GCZMA expert committee to recommend that the NCSCM depute its experts to jointly verify all sand dunes on ground along with the GCZMA on top priority.
Mindful of directions of the NGT regarding finalisation of CZMP for Goa, the GCZMA expert committee had suggested that the NCSCM considers these additional sand dune areas identified before finalising the CZMP.
Incidentally, former NIO scientist Antonio Mascarenhas, in a written submission on the CZMP public consultation in July, had also claimed that sand dune mapping by NCSCM were “full of discrepancies.” He felt that these discrepancies needed urgent revision and re-mapping on the basis of ground realities.
