IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
  
APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING TO COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT 
IN INDIA 
Shailesh Nayak 
Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India. 
E-mail: snayakad 1 @sancharnet.in 
Commission VII, WG VII/3 
KEYWORDS: Remote sensing, coastal zone, wetland, coastal processes, water quality, climate change, management 
ABSTRACT: 
Coastal zone is under pressure on account of globalisation. It is necessary to protect coastal ecosystem to ensure sustainable 
development. This requires information on coastal wetlands, landforms, water quality, hazards on a periodically. Remote sensing 
data have been found to be extremely useful for provide information on this aspects. In India remote sensing data, especially IRS 
data have been used to generate database on various components of coastal environment of the entire country. Thematic maps on 
wetlands, land use, landforms, mangroves, corals, shoreline have been generated on 1:250,000, 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 scale. The 
classification accuracy have been achieved is 85 per cent or better at 90 per cent confidence level. This information has been used for 
the assessment of condition of wetlands, corals and mangroves, water quality, exploration of living resources and identification of 
areas under erosion and deposition. Satellite-derived derived information were integrated with the other collateral information 
through GIS to select sites for aquaculture, zoning of coastal zone for regulatory purpose and assess possible impact of climate. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The coastal zone of world is under increasing stress due to high 
rates of human population growth, development of industries, 
trade and commerce, and deteriorating water quality. This 
region is of very high biological productivity and thus an 
important component of the global life system. Coastal 
ecosystems harbour wealth of species and genetic diversity, 
store and cycle nutrients, filter pollutants and help to protect 
shorelines from erosion and storms. Marine ecosystems play a 
vital role in regulating climate and they are a major carbon sink 
and oxygen source. The industrial development of coast has 
resulted in degradation of coastal ecosystems and diminishing 
the living resources of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 
form of coastal and marine biodiversity and productivity. 
Episodic events, such as cyclones, floods, take place very 
rapidly and pose serious threat to human life and property. 
More than half population lives within 60 km of the coast and 
would rise to almost three quarters by 2020 (Anon, 1992). 
Human activities also induce certain changes or accelerate the 
process of change. 
Thus there is an urgent need to conserve the coastal ecosystems 
and habitats including individual plant species and communities 
so that their current and potential usefulness to people is not 
impaired. By promoting wise use of coastal resources, annual 
yields can be assured in perpetuity. This can be achieved by the 
integrated development of coastal and marine areas, which is 
precautionary and anticipatory in ambit (Anon. 1992). The 
current approaches for management has been found to be not 
capable of achieving sustainable development as most coastal 
ecosystems are degrading and shorelines being eroded on the 
large part of the world. The one of the major requirement is to 
integrate sectoral programmes on ports, fisheries, industries, 
settlements, recreation, environment and agriculture. 
In order to ensure to ensure sustainable development, it 
necessary to develop accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive 
scientific databases on habitats, protected areas, water quality, 
371 
environmental indicators and carry out periodic assessment of 
the health of the system. The modern scientific tools of remote 
sensing, GIS and GPs are extremely valuable in development of 
databases to analyse them in the integrated manner and derive 
management action plans. Availability of repetitive, synoptic 
and multi-spectral data from various satellite platforms, viz. 
IRS, LANDSAT, SPOT, have helped to generate information 
on varied aspects of the coastal and marine environment. In 
India, satellite based information has been used for generating 
inventory on coastal habitats, landforms, coastal land use and 
shoreline condition, condition assessment of protected areas, 
exploration of marine fisheries, mitigation of coastal disasters 
and understanding of sediment dynamics as well as GIS has 
been used for the integrating satellite based information for 
identifying aquaculture sites, coastal regulation and 
environmentally sensitive zones. 
2. ISSUES FOR COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT 
The following issues are critical in context of coastal zone 
management (Nayak, 2000). 
Coastal ecosystems and marine living resources 
i) Generation of reference or baseline data, 
conservation and restoration of vital and critical 
habitats such as mangroves, coral reefs, sea- 
grass beds, etc. 
Reclamation of wetland for agricultural and 
industrial purposes 
Exploration and sustainable use of living 
resources 
ii) 
iii) 
Shoreline protection 
i) Identification of vulnerable areas including 
eroded areas and developmental activities 
Planning and implementation of coastal 
protection work (erosion, flood protection, salt 
water intrusion, etc.) 
ii)