A Review of coastal erosion mitigation measures on Sri Lanka’s Western Coast, an Island Nation in the Indian Ocean: Current gaps and future directions

Abstract

A significant portion of the Coastal zone of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) necessitates the implementation of coastal protection measures due to socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability brought on by coastal erosion. Depending on how well each country understands coastal systems, different approaches are taken. In Sri Lanka, where coastal erosion has been a long-standing problem, the strategies for managing the coastal zone started out with hard engineering techniques and later evolved to soft engineering solutions. The South-West coast of Sri Lanka has recently been the target of a number of anthropogenic operations, such as off-shore sand mining, mega sand nourishments, and land reclamations, as a result of the country's explosive growth. The impacts of these coastal development activities and existing measures on the prevailing coastal environment are poorly known. A thorough review of current management practices is required in order to assess the physical and ecological sustainability of these measures, which are being driven by recent efforts to preserve the coastal environment and research findings on the environmental impact of erosion mitigation strategies. In this study, openly-available journal articles, impact assessments reports and guidelines, websites, press releases, unpublished data and information about coastal erosion management measures have been reviewed. In addition, the sustainability of different strategies applied, opportunities and challenges of existing measures have been discussed. Moreover, this review provides information required on the subject of coastal erosion amongst stakeholders which will help to implement mitigation measures and implementation of current and future coastal defenses.