Report on the Public Consultation on Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification, 2008

September 16, 2008

Planning developmental paradigms that lead to conserving India’s coastal environment and also ensuring a sustainable future for coastal communities is a major challenge. In this context, Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India, has brought out guidelines, frameworks and notifications on coastal zone planning from time to time, the recent one being the draft “Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification, 2008,” dated 1, May 2008 (Vide No. S.O. 1070 (E) and republished on 21, July ,2008 ( Vide No.S.O.1761 (E) in the Gazette of India. MoEF sought public opinion in this regard. Also, in order to capture the viewpoints and responses of the local communities and NGOs across the coastal states and union territories (U.T.), MoEF assigned Centre for Environment Education (CEE) to organize public consultations (Vide letter No. 11-83/2005- I A-III, dt.1st July 2008). This initiative of MoEF was highly appreciated by the participants across consultations.

This is the report of public consultations facilitated by CEE on the draft CMZ notification , 2008. This report prepared by CEE has attempted to capture and convey the view points of participants belonging to local communities and NGOs as expressed across 35 consultations in 9 coastal states . The opinions and view points presented here are solely those of the participants. It does not represent any view points of CEE or endorse / criticize / influence any of the view points / comments/ suggestions made in the course of consultation process.