The Indian coastal stretch is made up of diverse ecosystems - sand dunes, beaches, wetlands, mangroves, estuaries, backwater lagoons and coral reefs. Settlements of nearly 10 million fisherfolk, are concentrated in these areas, as they mainly depend on coastal resources and the sea for their survival. Several activities such as unregulated tourism, polluting industries, infrastructure, aquaculture, sand mining, construction of sea walls & rapid urbanisation pose serious threats to the health of these ecosystems and to lives and livelihoods of coastal communities.

The coast is governed by several official legislations that regulate ‘development’ activities including construction, industrial activity and coastal infrastructure....

The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification that was brought into force in 1991 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 was hailed as a progressive law by fishworkers and environmental groups as it recognised that coastal areas needed some form of protection from unregulated development. This notification also appreciated and prioritised the rights of traditional coastal and fishworker communities on coastal spaces as their livelihood security depended directly on their free access to these spaces. The popularity of the notification in its original form is evident in the fact that different constituencies mentioned above...