Sustainable hard and soft measures for coastal protection - Case studies along the Indian Coast

Any stretch of a coastline warrants protection measure when it experiences an erosion rate beyond a threshold value, and when the seasonal littoral drift changes fail to restore equilibrium. The causes for coastal erosion can either be natural, man-made or a combination of both. The natural causes include extreme storm events, inland/basins interventions responsible for sediment sinks, the action of waves on the coasts and Sea level rise due to climate change. The man-made causes are often related to developmental activities such as the construction of ports, fishing harbours, structures for wave and tidal energy converters and tourism development related activities. To counter or minimize coastal erosion, the protection measures are broadly classified as hard and soft measures. A few case studies along the Indian coast based on both approaches are considered and their performance characteristics are presented, the merits and demerits of both methods are highlighted, are discussed in this paper.