Beach beauty in Bengal: Perception of scenery and its implications for coastal management in Purba Medinipur district, eastern India

Abstract

Human activities can affect the revenue-generating potential of coastal landscapes through the loss of intrinsic properties like scenery. Yet, scenic assessments are often excluded from coastal management programmes in many countries. The recent modifications made to India’s Coastal Zone Regulations warrant such assessments urgently, as escalating anthropogenic activities in previously restricted zones can degrade coastal ecosystems. Using the Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES), this paper assesses the scenery of six beaches in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal in eastern India. The CSES uses fuzzy logic to analyze users’ perceptions of 26 attributes regarding the physical and human environments of beaches and categorizes them into five classes of increasing scenic depletion. Results obtained suggest that the studied beaches have very degraded scenic quality, with one each in classes III and IV and four in class V. The causative factors include rapid degeneration of a subdued physical environment by tremendous proliferation of coastal tourism along with its concomitant changes and poorly implemented management policies. Reducing direct interventions on beaches, undertaking dune restoration, controlling coastal erosion through emerging approaches, improving litter management, modifying the built environment where necessary, raising public awareness about the issue and greater public participation in the management process can ameliorate the situation. A Coastal Scenery Management Plan, incorporating all these aspects, must be included in the state’s Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme. Undertaking such measures and implementing them stringently, coupled with regular follow-up assessments, might improve the scenic conditions of the beaches of Purba Medinipur in the future.