Coastal Erosion
Coastal Erosion
Sea erosion, more commonly known as coastal erosion, is the process of the removal of sedimentary rocks at the coastline thereby leading to a loss of land and retreat of the coastline landward. It can be caused by abrasion, hydraulic action, impact, and corrosion by water or wind, and other natural or unnatural forces. Sri Lanka possesses an approximately 1,600 km coastline around the island. This coastline acts as a boundary between the land and the sea in order to defend the landmass of the island.
The cause
There are two main causes, they were revealed to be natural sea erosion and manmade sea erosion. The natural causes are the sea level rising, climate change, and depression. He also stated that sea erosion or coastal erosion occurs seasonally (once or twice a year) and some areas have it especially during monsoon times. Since of late, the main reason for sea erosion has been climate change. Moreover, sea erosion takes place if there is not sufficient sand being transported to the sea through the rivers. If there is insufficient sand being delivered to the ocean, the sea erodes those particular areas of the beach in order to obtain the necessary amount of sand.
We cannot just blame this all on the weather patterns and nature itself, since we too are a big part of the problem. Illegal sand mining and construction of buildings and other various infrastructures near prohibited areas along the shores are huge agents in causing coastal erosion.
Solutions
There are two types of solutions – “hard solutions” and “soft solutions”.
Even though the areas struck by the monsoon will be fine, the Department of Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management has implemented protections such as offshore breakwaters and nearshore breakwaters. These are what are referred to as hard solutions.
One common form of a soft solution is known as “sand nourishment”. It is the process of creating an artificial beach by taking sand from offshore and putting it into the beach area. Apart from the public sector’s efforts, the private sector to takes a few measures to protect our beautiful island.
What can we do to rectify our mistakes?
First and foremost, we must put an end to illegal sand mining, which is one of the major issues. Secondly, we must not build houses in “no build” zones. Once built in one of those zones without permission, there is little to nothing the Government can do to protect it from sea erosion and the onslaught of damage to the houses. Further, we must identify how the island is naturally protected by various types of mangroves. Certain areas were protected from the harrowing tsunami in 2004 by these mangroves. Hence, more research needs to be put into identifying them, there needs to be more tree planting and mangrove planting if we want the situation to change at all.
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