The Editor Navhind Papers and Publications, Navhind Bhavan, Panaji, Goa 403001
Dear Sir: Goa Beaches - Quo Vadis? I have read in your paper, with dismay, about the illegal sand extraction in Amona. I have written many times about this subject and have personally lobbied Chief Minister M Parrikar (during his previous term) on this subject. I have witnessed beach sand extraction continuing unabated for many years. We have all been cautioned by the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, which monitors sea-level rise. They estimate a mean sea level rise from tide gauge data at selected stations along the coast of a rise of less than 1 mm/year. (Current Science, February 10, 2006) i.e. according to NIO the sea should have risen 0.7cm by this year. But Kerala has already experienced 1 cm rise. So sea levels are rising faster than forecast. The devastation on Kerala's coastline is being duplicated in Goa. Severe weather patterns of the type of hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and recent devastating flooding in Uttarakhand are now considered to be not unusual. You just have to ask citizens of New Jersey how scary it was to see huge volumes of sea water rush inland and engulf their cities. Most climate change models had forecast a global sea-level rise of half a meter (over 1½ feet) by 2100. (i.e. 50 cm). Now new projections show that by 2050, if not sooner, the world's oceans will rise about a meter, and this will be just enough to inundate the Maldives, parts of Bangladesh, other Pacific islands and many low coastal areas in the U.S., Asia and other nations. Currently a number of islands in the South Pacific are already not longer habitable due to sea water entering their aquifers. People are moving to larger islands. You do not have to be a genius to realize that 50 to 100 times the rise in sea lea levels will make our beaches disappear sooner than we think - perhaps within the next 15 to 30 years the beaches that have attracted tourists to Goa will not be there. We will be left with sea, rocks and an embankment of tetra pods which will only serve to protect the illegal structures built in the CRZ. To exacerbate the bad situation we have people (aided and abetted by local politicians, no doubt) pilfering our sand. Those with computers can see the NDTV expose done in 2011 where incredulously our (previous) Minister of the Environment talks about legalizing sand extraction for construction. Sigh! (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8USUCcjObo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld-l6tf1pcI) Consider the case of Florida which relies heavily on tourism (like Goa). The Floridians consider that beach erosion threatens the very resource that residents and visitors enjoy. What are they doing about it? They are restoring eroded beaches through beach nourishment. In a typical beach nourishment project, sand (hundreds of tons) is collected from an offshore location by a dredge and is piped onto the beach. because it provides a significant level of storm protection benefits for upland properties and is the least impacting to the coastal system. An additional benefit of beach restoration projects is that they quickly restore shorebird and marine turtle habitat. And we think that allowing just the opposite to happen is OK? Tim de Mello Canada
