ABSTRACT
Coastal regions of India are known for their rich socio-cultural history, dense population, economic opportunities, and abundance of marine resources. Over the past few decades, these regions have often been disturbed by development-related complications, resource extractions, and resulting disputes between the state and coastal stakeholders, especially marine fisherfolk. Not only do these regions and their people experience socio-economic and ecological upheavals, but they are also highly vulnerable to climate change effects, including sea-level rise, erosion, inundation, and cyclones, which are in turn made worse by flawed policy and scientifically unsound infrastructure. Hence, the combined effects of climate-related risks, development, and resource-related complications have already hit the coastal stakeholders in multiple ways. In response, the state's policies and actions need to have a more focused and empathetic approach, which pays attention to past and ongoing issues while solving future concerns and can be implemented on the ground to respond to the present and future complications. Existing climate change policy responses and actions for the most vulnerable coastal stakeholders, however, are grossly inadequate, loaded with loopholes, and tend to repeat past policy mistakes. This chapter spotlights three vulnerable and contested coastal states from India: Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Maharashtra, and attempts to offer critical insights into the politics underpinning the coastal laws of the past few decades. Using both primary and secondary data, this chapter discusses a few challenges of many coastal stakeholders while seeking intervention and redressal for climate change and development-related complications in the regions they inhabit. In conclusion, this chapter advocates for policies which prioritize the most vulnerable coastal populations and bolster climate-change preparedness among them.
