2012 Chilika Lake ecosystem health report card
Chilika Lake, a lagoon on the Bay of Bengal in the eastern State of Odisha, India, stores monsoon flood waters and provides a level of salinity needed to sustain its amazing biodiversity of life. Local communities depend on the Lake to provide fish and seafood for food and resale, village transport, and tourism income. But, Chilika Lake is also subjected to constant pressures from both natural processes and human activities. This is the first of a proposed series of Ecosystem Health Report Cards, supported by the Chilika Development Authority and the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. The 2012 report card will serve as a baseline to enhance the understanding and management of the Chilika Lake ecosystem for the benefit of all.
IAN returns to India for integrated coastal zone management workshops
In the second collaboration with the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) and as part of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management project in India, an IAN team visited the State of Gujarat in early September to conduct two workshops: 1) the Coastal Ecosystem Health Report Card for the Marine National Park workshop in Jamnagar, and 2) the Gulf of Kachchh Cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment Framework workshop in Gandhinagar. A field day at the Marine National Park gave the IAN staff a chance to see first-hand some of the tidal zone and coral reef biodiversity that is the focus of the ecological report card.
Gulf of Kachchh Cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment
The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Ministry of Environment and Forests, India, and the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC), Gujarat India, released the Gulf of Kachchh Cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment (CEIA) framework, which was developed at a September 2013 workshop Gandhinagar, in Gujarat State. IAN facilitated the workshop, synthesized the results, and produced the framework for the CEIA in close consultation with workshop participants, NCSCM, and GEC. The CEIA project describes a broad framework for developing a comprehensive impact assessment that accounts for current and anticipated pressures on the ecosystem. The framework consists of five steps: 1.) Describing the key features and values, 2.) Identify and quantify major pressures on the environment and values, 3.) Examine and describe the current state of the environment, 4.) Quantify past and existing pressures and determine linkages to impacts, and 5.) Integrate the results into adaptive management.
Jamnagar 2015 Ecosystem Health Report Card released
The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), and the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC), Gujarat India, released the Marine National Park and Sanctuary (MNPS), Jamnagar 2015 Ecosystem Health Report Card. A science workshop was convened by GEC and NCSCM in Jamnagar in Gujarat State in September 2013. IAN facilitated the workshop, synthesized the results, and produced the report card in close consultation with workshop participants, NCSCM, GEC, Gujarat Ecological Education and Research Foundation, MNPS, and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board. The report card is the first for MNPS and will serve as a baseline to measure progress towards management goals and targets in the coming years.