DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY

Coastal transformations and fisher wellbeing - synthesized perspectives from India and Europe

Project disclaimer

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Description

This project will directly benefit India, which is a lower-middle income ODA-eligible country. This research is directly relevant to the current development challenges of India because the coast is increasingly becoming a site of development not only in terms of urbanisation but also where manufacturing (industries) and service sector (IT and tourism) growth is situated. This is likely to have a significant impact on fishing communities who have historically been the prime occupiers of coastal land and users of the sea because it will mean that there will be competition for limited space. Existing evidence already suggests that fishing communities are being moved from coastal areas to make way for ‘development’ and that they are responding by multiple means, i.e. protests, legal challenges etc. This is taking place in a context where global warming and sea-level rise are also occurring posing another challenge to fishing communities. Our research will enhance understanding of coastal transformations in two states (Tamil Nadu on the east coast and Maharashtra on the west coast) and assess the trade-offs that exist when the coast is claimed by multiple actors. Development, including coastal development, is very much about winners and losers so we hope that our research could not only highlight this but also suggest ways in which development can be more inclusive and address issues of social welfare and ecological sustainability. The PI and a few Co-Is are based in India and have many years of prior experience researching similar coastal issues and undertaking impact studies. The collaborative cross-country design of the research project will also allow the Indian researchers to learn from the experiences of the European countries (UK, France, Norway and Slovenia). In these countries, coastal transformation of the sort we are researching in India has taken place to a large extent already. By learning from the experiences of European countries, we hope this will not only help us ask the relevant questions for our research but also allow us to make more informed choices about coastal development in India through deliberative and participatory processes that include fishers and solicit greater overall public participation. The primary purpose of the project is to assist policy-makers respond to emergent needs and priorities, and thus support and benefit coastal populations (fishers but others as well), often marginalised and subject to multiple risks and vulnerabilities, including from climate change. The project further seeks to empower fishing communities in India through sharing information about policies and practices, and providing them the tools to engage meaningfully in policy-making processes. Our interest in fishing communities in particular is because we feel economic development in India needs to be much more targeted at groups who have not benefited as much as others from India’s growth and development over the last six decades. The main concern we have is that in the process of the coast becoming a site of development for the manufacturing and service sectors fishers and other marginalized coastal communities would bear the brunt. A major output in the case of India, a DAC country, will be to collate all the data across work packages into a GIS-tool to visually characterize coastal transformation socio-spatially at the regional (district) and local levels. This will be an interactive, open access platform to better inform a range of stakeholders, in particular, civil society actors including fisher organisations. The project team will also share findings with policy makers to influence and to promote more inclusive growth that is cognizant of the needs of fisher communities who have inhabited the coast for a long time.

Objectives

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

India

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