M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

In 2005, MSSRF will be completing 15 years of work in the areas of research, education, capacity building, mentoring, policy advocacy and networking. In retrospect, the decision made in 1990 to choose integrated
coastal zone management for priority attention, with a view to linking the ecological security of coastal areas and the livelihood security of coastal communities (both fisher and farming families) in a mutually
reinforcing manner has proved to be a wise one. The Coastal System Research (CSR) programme (PA 100) of MSSRF was designed to give concurrent scientific attention to sea and land surfaces along the shoreline. The CSR programme was initiated in anticipation of potential adverse changes in sea level as a result of global warming. An early scientific step in this process was the conservation of mangrove genetic resources and the rehabilitation of degraded mangrove wetlands in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. These mangrove forests served as “bio-shields” during the tsunami attack on 26 December, 2004. They
had also served a similar purpose during the super cyclone in Orissa in 1999. These observations have helped to generate interest in the development of bio-shields along the shoreline at both the political and public levels.