{"id":8985,"date":"2026-04-15T10:54:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/?p=8985"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:07:07","slug":"kerala-a-coast-undergoing-change-knowledge-sharing-and-adaptation-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/features\/kerala-a-coast-undergoing-change-knowledge-sharing-and-adaptation-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerala; a coast undergoing change \u2013 Knowledge sharing and adaptation strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kerala; a coast undergoing change \u2013 Knowledge sharing and adaptation strategies<\/h1><\/div>[vc_column_text css=””]India\u2019s coastline faces rapid environmental change \u2013 nowhere more visible than in the state of Kerala. A recent conference brought together international and Indian scientists alongside local stakeholders to exchange knowledge and research insights. The participants explored also how to respond to environmental changes with science-based solutions for strengthening climate resilience. The conference is part of the C3-eKerala project and was organized by the Nansen Center and the Nansen Environmental Research Centre (India).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Four themes were central to the conference: sea\u2011level rise and shoreline changes, harmful algal blooms and climate extremes, climate change impact on coastal habitats, and marine spatial planning and adaptation strategies. Satellite observations are one of the most important tools, with researchers showing how these data sources can help track coastal changes, detect harmful algal blooms, and monitor marine habitats. The expertise at the Nansen Center is central to progress in these fields, benefitting the Kerala coastal communities. The conference discussions pointed toward the need for long\u2011term coastal data, improved forecasting capacity, and better integration of local and scientific knowledge.<\/p>\n

Engaging with local stakeholders
\n<\/strong>Stakeholders from government agencies, coastal communities, non-governmental organizations, and industry participated in a dedicated panel session. They shared experiences from recent climate\u2011related events, including erosion, flooding, and pressure on ecosystems.<\/p>\n

The dialogue helped identify priority needs for the region, including accessible data products, improved early\u2011warning information, promote experiential learning, and closer collaboration between scientific institutions, stakeholders and decision\u2011makers. Participants also emphasized the importance of community\u2011level involvement in adaptation planning.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead
\n<\/strong>The meeting concluded with a shared understanding that coordinated efforts will be crucial in the coming years. Planned activities include knowledge exchange between Norwegian and Indian partners, follow\u2011up meetings with stakeholders, and continued work on tools for coastal monitoring and forecasting. The project partners aim to ensure that research results from C3\u2011eKerala (see info box) support practical and effective climate\u2011adaptation measures along the Kerala coast.<\/p>\n

As highlighted in the panel discussion, local communities prefer hard protection measures such as groynes and seawalls against sea incursion and flooding, while experts argue that these structures do not ensure long-term shoreline protection. Nature-based solutions like mangroves face local resistance due to legal concerns. C3e-Kerala should generate strong scientific evidence to help communities and policymakers reach a consensus on sustainable shoreline protection.<\/p>\n

The conference was organized as part of the C3\u2011eKerala project, which is endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development<\/a><\/span>, and funded by the Research Council of Norway.<\/p>\n

Key researchers: <\/strong>Roshin P. Raj<\/span><\/a>, Antonio Bonaduce<\/span><\/a>, Lasse H. Pettersson<\/span><\/a>, Fabio Mangini<\/span><\/a>, Artem Moiseev<\/span><\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid element_width=”3″ css=”” grid_id=”vc_gid:1776243993245-67c508b1-b928-0″ include=”9000,8998,8994,9004″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1695033709348{padding-right: 0px !important;}”]

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Vulnerability of the Kerala coastline<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Kerala faces erosion, sea\u2011level rise, extreme waves, and pressures on key ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrasses. With dense coastal populations, even small changes can have major social and economic consequences.<\/p><\/div>

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The C3-eKerala project<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Researchers from the Nansen Center and Indian institutions investigate how sea\u2011level rise, waves, and ecosystem changes affect the Kerala coast. The project aims to support authorities and stakeholders in planning climate\u2011adaptation measures by developing forecasts, maps, and analyses based on remote sensing, in\u2011situ observations, modeling, and machine learning. Read more on the project pages<\/a><\/span>.<\/p><\/div>

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NERSC-NERCI collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Nansen Center and the Nansen Environmental Research Centre (India)<\/span><\/a>, called NERCI, have collaborated for more than two decades on research related to the ocean, climate, and coastal ecosystems. The partnership is central for studies of climate and marine ecosystems in southern Asia. NERCI was established as a non-commercial and accredited research company, with the Nansen Center and local Indian center staff as shareholders.<\/p><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1693479579188{background-color: #ffffff !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]India\u2019s coastline faces rapid environmental change \u2013 nowhere more visible than in the state of Kerala. A recent conference brought together international and Indian scientists alongside local stakeholders to exchange knowledge and research insights. The participants explored also how to respond to environmental changes with science-based solutions for strengthening climate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 19:19:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8985"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9014,"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8985\/revisions\/9014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nersc.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}