All coastal states facing sea erosion

Almost all coastal states and union territories are being eroded by the sea, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Almost all coastal states and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Andaman-Nicobar Islands are facing the problem of sea erosion, Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.

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Of the 480 kms of Kerala coastline which has been assessed to be vulnerable to sea erosion, 368 kms of coastline has been protected till March 2000, Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi said during Question Hour.

The other states which are facing sea erosion were West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, he said.

To another question on infertility of cultivable land, Sethi said a total of 173.6 million hectares of land had been degraded due to erosion by water, wind, ravines, salt, water-logging and shifting of cultivation among other problems.

He said intensive cropping with high inputs, high yielding varieties and soil erosion tend to cause decline in soil fertility in cultivable land.