Coastal Tourism

The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 1991 is the most significant and specialized legislation guiding developmental activities along the coast and in islands. Since its inception, it has been amended 20 times, each time diluting its provisions further. In an unwarranted move, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) proposed to replace the CRZ Notification with a Coastal Management Zone (CMZ) Notification based on recommendations of the Swaminathan Committee Report. Many doubts and concerns are raised because of this move. The critical ones being: the impact on coastal communities and ecosystems, conservation and sustainable development, and a complete lack of democratic processes in its making. This paper provides a background and context for the CRZ Notification 1991, what went wrong with the Notification, the reasons for it, the status of the CMZ Notification and its impacts and a few of the regulations in CMZ Notification that are diluted for purely the benefit of the tourism development industry. The paper also brings to light how these Notifications have become an instrument to execute developmental activities rather than protect the highly pressurised coastal ecosystems.
This publication is divided into four parts: the first part analyses the CRZ Notification 1991 and issues of its implementation. It further looks at violations of the CRZ Notification 1991 by tourism. The second part is an evaluation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations. The third section is a critique of the draft CMZ Notification 2008. Finally, it has been suggested that the current CRZ Notification needs to be strengthened and rigorously implemented, rather than replace it with a feeble and ambigous CMZ Notification in the section on 'The Way Forward'.

EQUATIONS- Equitable Tourism Options has been involved in issues relating to the coast, ranging from those of the environment, to the concerns of local peoples. It looks at the various issues that arise in the context of changing patterns of the economy, and society, and the entry of new industries such as tourism, into the arena, as well as the changing role of the State.

The changing paradigms of development are often felt in the shift in priority of beneficiaries of such development. The modern development seeking the rich natural resources as the basis of its development operates on limited vision, to its advantage. Two critical entities that are subjected to these shifts are the environment and the community who live alongside the environment that was
thus far supporting them. The long tern sustainability/ of the environment is not considered though with modern technology it is possible to reduce the impacts of such development to certain extend. The community who are living on such environment and natural rescues, are not consulted and are not considered to be part of the developments. Their protests and pleadings are often ignored.

Tamil Nadu and its tourist activities is an important focus area within EQUATIONS.We have documented the tourism trends and developments of this vast, culturerich fand and the people earlier also through our Dossier on Tourism: lssues inTamilNadu, both in English and in Thamizh