PANJIM: Raising its strong objection to the draft coastal zone management plan (CZMP), the Goa Foundation (GF) has said that non consultation with the local community, to whom it intends to benefit, is the biggest “deficiency” of the draft plan.
In its representation submitted to the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) – which lays major focus on erroneous demarcation of Khazans, the GF has recommended that the khazans be inscribed as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS, the FAO equivalent of UNESCO’s World Heritage Site).
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GF director Claude Alvares noted that in 1996, when the first CZMP was approved, it was accompanied by textual detail of the entire CRZ, village by village, including length of each zone in km and the same is missing completely from the draft CZMP 2021 (except for the lengths of each zone).
“Therefore, the absence of a meaningful plan developed in collaboration with the local populace is the single biggest deficiency of the June 2021 draft. The local communities for whom the notification was designed and intended to benefit have not been consulted in its preparation,” the NGO said.
The GF said that for a new CZMP to be meaningful, the CZMP would require an assessment of how the earlier plan actually operated, whether the objectives of preserving and conserving the coast have been achieved, and if not, why not, and then suggest corrective actions that would not only prevent further degradation, but also restore the CRZ area to its earlier state, i.e pre-1991.
“Without such constructive plans, the exercise is almost pointless because it then degenerates into one more controlling regulation,” it maintained.
The Green NGO said that the CZMP must be designed to protect and conserve Goa’s coastal ecology and environment for the next generation, with the immediate objective of reversing the extensive damage it has already suffered.
“Any economic activity permitted for the welfare of human beings must be sustainable, that is, it cannot damage or destroy any of the ecosystem features of the coast, but should have an inbuilt, active component of protecting and enhancing the natural environment,” it said.
GF claimed that the CZMP does not include any management plans as required under CRZ Notification for management of sand dunes, turtle nesting beaches, khazan lands and mangroves.
It has recommended that the khazans be declared both an eco-sensitive area (as it is already under the Regional Plan), as well as an agricultural heritage system.
The GF pointed out that the legal structures that were constructed between the 1970s and 1991 do not feature in the CZMP presently, there is no Plan for Management of Built Heritage and shack demarcation is also not been done.
In its 500 page submission, the GF has incorporated various suggestions and objections raised by individuals, experts, professionals, etc with regards to zoning of water bodies, mangroves, sand dunes, marine biodiversity, zoning of CRZ areas, pollution in CRZ areas, sand mining, etc.
