PANAJI: The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management has recommended to the state government to take proactive steps towards promoting sustainable seaside ecotourism and asked it to join international Blue Flag programme that guarantees conformity to stringent environmental standards for beaches.
When you see a Blue Flag flying, you know a beach is clean and accessible, has great water quality and meets high safety standards. The existence of a Blue Flag indicates that authorities work hard to protect local shorelines and ecosystems.
“The state government should endeavour for a Blue Flag beach certification in a phased manner for appropriate beach stretches through a recognised certifying agency,” the report said.
Every year the Blue Flag programme, an international non-profit initiative having 65 organisations in six continents, awards its stamp of approval to beaches and marinas that meet its 32 criteria including water quality, cleanliness and waste management, safety and services, as well as environmental information and education.
In order to qualify for the Blue Flag certification the state government must prepare and display ‘code of conduct’ for the beach area and the laws governing beach use must be easily available to the public upon request.
The government must also provide latest information on bathing water quality at a beach information board.
The government must ensure sustainable recreation and tourism in the area and host environment education activities.
Every beach users must be informed and educated about the ecosystems and sensitivities of the surrounding environment through environmental information centre, where specific information about Blue Flag programme and environmental education issues can be given.
The beach carrying capacity study led by a team of the NCSCM was carried out following some internationally accepted norms.
The study was undertaken on the order of the National Green Tribunal, western zone bench, Pune, to the GCZMA, and the task was assigned to the NCSCM by the GCZMA.
The report said the state government, through its tourism department, should initiate an exercise for identification, mapping and evaluation of commercial areas within 200m in CRZ areas as well as review the carrying capacity every five years.
While expressing satisfaction over the adequate infrastructure with regard to roads and water supply to meet present and future needs, the NCSCM team suggested continuous upgradation, improvement and maintenance. The existing water consumption per bed is 489 as against 500 to 1000L per bed as per a Sri Lanka report. The hotels consume only 7.6 per cent of the total water from the PWD-supplied water and the water consumption per bed is 489 litres/ day as against WTO norm of 800 litres per bed, the report added.
The report also asked the water resources department (groundwater cell) and the Goa State Pollution Control Board to prepare a plan for monitoring the groundwater quality in the coastal areas.
The NCSCM in its report also recommended to the state government to encourage and lay emphasis on generation of power through installation of solar panels in hotels/ resorts/huts and other temporary structures by adopting net metering policy.
The team also asked the government to install biogas plants composting facilities based on availability of space and infrastructure.
“The present peak demand is around 540MW and total availability from the grid is around 470 MW. The shortfall of power is met by purchasing it from the traders on short-term basis. The state government shall formulate a policy for power purchase and encourage the private hotels and other commercial operators to install solar-based power generation units,” the report said.
It further highlighted the need for public amenities such as washrooms, showers and changing rooms required which needed to be provided on the popular beach stretches along with additional parking space.
The Goa Tourism Development Corporation has planned to build 68 permanent and mobile public toilets at 25 beach stretches.
The report also stressed on the need to protect the sand dune vegetation and asked the forest department and the Goa State Biodiversity Board to carry out artificial nourishment of beaches to counter sand depletion by erecting 1m high wire mesh, wooden or geo-textile fences perpendicular to the direction of prevailing winds.
The total sand dune area mapped within 200 m is 23,20,918 sq.mts.
“The GCZMA should consider setting up of adequately covered transfer stations for temporary storage of solid waste along / in near vicinity for better management of solid waste,” it added.