Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities

The Indian coastline, amongst the world’s most vulnerable to climate change impacts, spans over 7,500km with almost 3.5% of world’s population residing within 50 kms of the coast. People living in the coastal region in India are continually experiencing the adverse impact of climate change, such as extreme temperatures, changes in precipitation, sea-level rise giving rise to coastal flooding and erosion, increased risk of drought, and more, leading to loss in the productivity of fisheries, agriculture and aquaculture.

The coastal communities and their struggles require unique,

sustainable, utilitarian practices and traditions to bring about a marked change in the plight of the people. With this objective, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) funded project on “ “Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities” is being implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the three states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha, with UNDP as the Accredited Entity. The project supports the Government of India to enhance the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change. The project will shift the paradigm for coastal governance towards a new approach by integrating ecosystem - centered and community - based approaches to adaptation into coastal management and planning.

Aims

Conduct vulnerability assessment of the coast to inform planning of ecosystem- and community-based adaptation interventions in 13 coastal states
Conserve and restore coastal ecosystems for increasing ecosystem resilience in 3 target states
Integrate climate-adaptive livelihoods for enhanced resilience of vulnerable coastal communities by building climate resilient livelihoods and enterprises through value chains and strengthened access to markets in 24 landscapes
Strengthen governance and institutional frameworks for climate-

resilient management of coastal areas through a network of institutions for enhanced climate resilience and integrated planning and governance in all 13 coastal states
Integrate climate-adaptive livelihoods for enhanced resilience of vulnerable coastal communities by improving of capacities of local communities for community-based adaptation and climate-adaptive livelihoods in 24 target landscapes
Integrate an ecosystem-centric approaches to climate change adaptation into public and private sector policies, plans and budgets, and scaling up finance for EbA in 13 coastal states

Achievements

10 million people in 12 districts in three states benefiting from the increased resilience of coastal ecosystems – buffering lives, livelihoods and property from the impacts of extreme weather events intensified by climate change
Approx. 1,744,970 people in 24 target landscapes, of which 50 % are female, benefiting from the adoption of diversified, climate-resilient livelihood options
14,945 hectares of coastal ecosystems protected and restored to buffer against the current and future impacts of climate variability and climate change – including 10,575 hectares of mangroves, 700 hectares of saltmarshes, 85 hectares of seagrass beds, 35 hectares

of coral reefs and 3,550 hectares of coastal watersheds

Improved capacity of coastal management institutions for planning and implementing climate change adaptation measures, particularly those focused on protecting and restoring ecological infrastructure