Application of management frameworks for coastal zone management

Abstract

Sri Lanka is an island state with a coastline of approximately 1600 km and a land area of around 64,000 sq. km. Coastal erosion has been identified as a major natural hazard faced by Sri Lanka for a very long time. Its impact has increased at alarming rates due to unplanned human intervention in the coastal zone and with more than half of the country's total population settled in coastal areas, the unplanned development of coastal infrastructure resulting from increased settlements has naturally led to accelerated degradation of the coastal environment. Although the coastal problems of Sri Lanka have been recognized from the turn of the century it is in the last two decades that growing attention has been focused on these problems because they have been seriously aggravated