The principal bench of Justice Sheo Kumar Singh (Acting Chairperson), Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, Dr. A. Senthil Vel heard a Suo Moto case taken up from the News item titled “Several of the country’s 1.382 islands are under siege from unseasonal cyclonic storms, sea erosion and new development projects and one island has entirely disappeared from the map” appeared in the newspaper on 19.03.2023 .
As per the news item several islands along the Indian Coast as well as some of the Islands in the rivers are vulnerable for erosion and submergence. One of the main causes of submergence of island is because of Sea Level rise and global warming. There is an influx of saline water in agricultural and drinking water in these islands due to sea level rise.
Based on the news item and the environmental concerns, notices were issued to the Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF & CC) to file their response.
The matter was taken up July 11 and the response from Earth Sciences, Director of Metrology was examined. No response was filed by MoEF & CC. As per the response of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, India’s average temperature has risen by around 0.63 0c during 1901 to 2021. This rise in temperature is largely on account of GreenHouse Gases induced warming, partially offset by anthropogenic aerosols. The rise in temperature has resulted in melting of glaciers, rise in sea levels, changing precipitation patterns and increasing tendency of weather and climate extremes on a global scale.
The Report from Ministry of Earth Science also states that:
“The global average sea level has risen by 19 cm from 1901 to 2010 the average rate of rise measured by satellite has been 3.2 ( 2.9 – 3.5) mm/year since 1990s up from 1.7 (1.5-1.9) mm/year during twentieth century, obtained from historical tide gauge records. Thermal expansion and glacier melt because of anthropogenic global warming have been the major drivers of rise in global sea levels over the past century. Sea-level rise in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) occurred at a rate of 1.06–1.75 mm per year during 1874–2004 and has accelerated to 3.3 mm per year in the last two and a half decades (1993–2017), which is comparable to the current rate of global mean sea level rise. At the end of the twenty-first century, steric sea level in the NIO is projected to rise by approximately 300 mm relative to the average over 1986–2005 under the RCP4.5 scenario, with the corresponding projection for the global mean rise being approximately 180 mm.”
In view of the above, dangers of sea level rise and submergence of low lying lands such as islands it is imperative that these islands should be protected as people are living. In view of the above the NGT constituted a Committee comprising of
(1) Director, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (NIO, Goa),
(2) Director National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Chennai (A body under MoEF & CC),
(3) Director National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai and Director,
(4) Director, Survey of India, Dehradun.
The above Institutions shall study the impact of Sea Level rise on the islands and frame policy & measures to protect these islands from submergence, erosion, saline ingression, flooding and other adverse environmental aspects. The above Committee shall be free to include any other experts and Institutions that they feel appropriate. The Committee may also hold discussion with stakeholders if required. NIO, Goa shall be the nodal agency for the Committee. The report of the committee be submitted within three months, the NGT directed posting the matter on 13th October, 2023.