Coastal Erosion and Land Degradation - A Study at Navaladi, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

In general, coastal erosion is one of the global level threats to coastal community and coastal resources. Sri Lanka is a coastal nation in the Indian Ocean, where the coastal zone is not stable and can change time to time in response to natural process due to the seasonal weather patterns and anthropogenic activities such as settlement, urban development, economic development and tourism. Locally, there are many forces like waves, winds, currents, tides, and storms that have an effect on the coast of Sri Lanka. In that context, coast of Navaladi in Batticaloa District severely affected by the force of waves. This study approaches through remotely sensed data from Google Earth, interviews, and observation. The free satellite imagery provided in Google earth which can be used for many studies has certain limitations. Through the data analysis in ArcGIS environment, there are varieties of issues identified such as many acres of the land disappeared, coastal vegetation destroyed, certain amount of planted trees cover destroyed, disturbance caused to coastal environment and habitual activities of the fishing and other communities affected in study area of Batticaloa district. Finally, this study states the people and environment affected seriously influenced by wave and human induced activities near the coast of Navaladi, Batticaloa. Coastal conservation is vital part of the respected authorities in the Nation, they should monitor the coastal areas periodically with the concern of global trend of climate change and population is dwelling very fast in the coastal environments today.