Effectiveness of the Indian coastal regulation zones provisions for coastal zone management and its evaluation using SWOT analysis

In India provision for Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) has been formally introduced in 1991. It relied on the institutional framework that has a supporting legislative, administrative and procedural set up. National, State and District authorities together are sharing the responsibility of its development and management. In this article, firstly an overview of the CRZ provision and background to the CRZ norms in India are presented. It examines the progress made in the CRZ provisions through various amendments since its implementation (1991) and also depicts the key attributes of the new CRZ (2011) notification. A Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis is carried out in this article to identify strategic directions of CRZ practice/system. The analysis reveals that while considerable progress has been made in Indian CRZ provisions through successive amendments such as resource conservation and pollution control, implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) programme in various coastal states and greater involvement of corporate sectors in CZM, there are several constraints, ranging from improper scientific basis, guidelines, lack of baseline information and weak social basis, ambiguity in project activities, ineffective implementation and enforcement. The opportunities are realized as increasing public awareness, initiative of environmental groups, and forward thinking to sustainably manage the coastal resources by integrating ICZM to plans and policies. Poor Governance, rapid economic reforms, lack of scientific forecast and undue favors to coastal infrastructure are some of the foreseen threats to the system. Finally recommendations/suggestions are made to improve the effectiveness of the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and CRZ provision in India.