Context

• India’s 11,000-kilometre coastline is increasingly exposed to climate change, including sea-level rise, storm surges, cyclones, and saline intrusion.
• These interconnected threats endanger the lives and livelihoods of nearly 250 million people living in coastal regions.
• As climate risks intensify, strengthening coastal resilience has become a critical policy priority.
• While adaptation efforts have traditionally relied on engineered structures, growing evidence supports the role of natural ecosystems in reducing vulnerability and promoting long-term sustainability.

Overreliance on Grey Infrastructure

• India’s adaptation strategy has largely favoured grey infrastructure such as seawalls, groynes, embankments, and tetrapods.
• Coastal States have invested heavily in these structures, while funding for ecosystem-focused initiatives has remained comparatively limited.
• Although such measures can be effective, especially in densely populated urban areas, they often involve high maintenance costs and may transfer risks to neighbouring regions.
• Along parts of Kerala’s coastline, hard armouring has protected specific locations while contributing to increased erosion elsewhere.
• These limitations highlight the need for more balanced and sustainable adaptation approaches.

Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) as a Natural Defense

• EbA uses biodiversity and ecosystem services to help communities adapt to climate impacts.
• India possesses valuable natural assets, including mangroves, seagrass meadows, coral reefs, and wetlands, which act as natural buffers against coastal hazards.
• These ecosystems reduce wave energy, limit shoreline erosion, and provide protection from extreme weather events.
• Research identifies India as a global hotspot for coastal EbA, with mangrove ecosystems protecting more people per hectare than in most other countries.

Social, Economic, and Environmental Benefits

• During Cyclone Dana, mangroves along Odisha’s coast reduced the impact of severe weather, demonstrating the protective value of healthy ecosystems.
• In the Sundarbans, more than 18,000 women restored 4,600 hectares of mangroves, helping communities withstand Cyclones Amphan and Yaas.
• These restoration efforts also supported livelihoods through activities such as honey collection and crab farming.
• Such outcomes illustrate the multiple co-benefits of EbA, combining climate resilience with economic opportunities, social inclusion, and ecosystem conservation.

 Governance and Policy Challenges

• Despite its proven effectiveness, EbA remains marginal within India’s adaptation framework.
• Fragmented governance, weak monitoring systems, and a preference for visible infrastructure projects often limit its recognition.
• Many ecosystem-based initiatives are implemented through broader conservation, restoration, or development programmes, causing their adaptation benefits to remain unrecorded.
• Consequently, successful interventions are frequently overlooked in adaptation planning, assessment, and financing.

The Challenge of Classification

• A major barrier to mainstreaming EbA is the presence of overlapping concepts such as Nature-based Solutions (NbS), Ecosystem-based Coastal Adaptation (EbCA), and Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR).
• The absence of clear classification creates uncertainty regarding what qualifies as adaptation.
• As a result, many ecosystem-focused initiatives are categorised under restoration or conservation rather than climate adaptation.
• The Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) programme illustrates this challenge.
• Although it enhances climate resilience through large-scale mangrove restoration, it is primarily recognised as a restoration initiative rather than an adaptation strategy.

Why Recognition Matters?

• Accurate classification is essential for identifying, monitoring, and evaluating adaptation outcomes.
• It also enables governments to allocate resources more effectively and capture the full socio-economic value of ecosystem-based interventions.
• As global attention shifts toward measuring adaptation progress through frameworks such as the Global Goal on Adaptation, clear recognition of EbA becomes increasingly important.
• Without proper tracking mechanisms, some of India’s most effective climate responses may remain undercounted and underfunded.

Conclusion

• India’s natural ecosystems represent one of its strongest defences against climate change.
• While engineered infrastructure will continue to play an important role, EbA offers a more sustainable, cost-effective, and equitable approach to managing coastal risks.
• Integrating EbA into mainstream coastal planning, policy, and finance can strengthen resilience while supporting biodiversity, livelihoods, and long-term development.
• The key challenge is no longer proving that EbA works, but ensuring that policy frameworks recognise, measure, and scale it effectively.