Partners in Justice Concerns India (PJCI) - Coastal Resource Hub

Location: 
​Tamil Nadu Coast, India (with primary focus on coastal fishing communities)​

Project Summary:
This comprehensive coastal advocacy project aims to protect the rights and livelihoods of artisanal fishing communities along Tamil Nadu's coast through techno-legal education, policy advocacy, and community empowerment. The project addresses multiple interconnected challenges facing coastal populations, including loss of access to traditional fishing grounds, housing displacement, environmental degradation, and climate vulnerabilities through legal literacy, participatory research, and strategic advocacy interventions.

Issues Addressed:

• Loss of coastal access: Fishing communities are losing traditional living and livelihood spaces due to urbanization and commercialization
• Inadequate housing security: Absence of long-term housing (LTH) plans despite CRZ notification mandates
• Marine access restrictions: Lack of recognition of traditional fishing rights within 200 nautical mile limits
• Coastal erosion: Human-induced shoreline vulnerability from hard structures causing beach loss
• Aquaculture conflicts: Weakened regulations allowing aquaculture facilities to degrade coastal commons
• Environmental degradation: Ennore Wetlands require eco-restoration with community supervision
• Policy exclusion: Fishing communities marginalized from coastal zone management planning processes
• Climate vulnerabilities: Sea level rise and extreme weather impacts on coastal settlements
• Knowledge hierarchies: Colonial notions dismissing traditional fisher knowledge systems

Approach Taken:

• Techno-legal translation: Converting complex institutional policies and scientific knowledge into accessible community formats
• Participatory research: Co-creating evidence through community monitoring and documentation
• Intersectional solidarity: Building alliances across youth, artists, scientists, and lawyers
• Legal empowerment: Providing communities with tools to access legal remedies and rights protection
• Knowledge valorization: Highlighting traditional fisher knowledge systems and ways of knowing
• Capacity building: Training communities in GIS mapping, legal processes, and advocacy strategies
• Multi-stakeholder engagement: Facilitating consultations between fishing communities and government authorities

Solutions:

• Long-Term Housing (LTH) advocacy: Supporting communities to demand and research LTH plans, creating visual productions on sea level rise impacts
• Marine Spatial Planning (MSP): Facilitating sea usage mapping and asserting traditional fishing rights through legal education and GIS training
• Shoreline Management: Supporting communities to push for Shoreline Management Plans addressing human-induced erosion per National Green Tribunal orders
• Aquaculture regulation: Providing legal education on new Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act implications and supporting commons protection
• Ennore Wetlands restoration: Organizing climate tours, tracking restoration progress, and facilitating community-government meetings
• Coastal commons protection: Monitoring infrastructure threats, building community capacity, and highlighting community responses
• Legal literacy programs: Empowering communities with rights education, information access, and legal remedy procedures

Impact:

• Enhanced participation: Increased fisherfolk consultations in Coastal Zone Management Authority planning processes
• Improved representation: Strengthened fisher participation in district-level coastal zone management authorities
• Spatial recognition: Fishing zones in CRZ IV areas demarcated with community input and public consultation maps released
• Legal empowerment: Increased community understanding of climate vulnerabilities and LTH legal provisions
• Framework development: Acceptable approaches established for LTH plan preparation
• Rights protection: More instances of communities seeking legal remedies and following up on court orders upholding land rights
• Environmental monitoring: Enhanced community capacity for monitoring and reporting threats to coastal commons
• Wetland restoration: Priority sites identified by fisherfolk for micro-level remediation, including invasive species removal
• Participatory restoration: Community-driven approaches to Ennore wetlands restoration
• Youth engagement: Increased use of law, science, and traditional knowledge by young fisherfolk for rights protection
• Policy influence: Strengthened coastal zone management plans incorporating community knowledge and needs
• Knowledge recognition: Traditional fisher knowledge systems validated and integrated into planning processes

What is the impact of $1500 on this project?

• 2-3 community legal literacy workshops covering CRZ regulations, marine spatial planning, and fisher rights
• Training 15-20 young fisherfolk in GIS mapping techniques for documenting traditional fishing areas
• 1-2 climate tours in Ennore wetlands to raise awareness of environmental impacts
• Documentation support for 3-4 communities developing Long-Term Housing (LTH) demands
• Legal consultation costs for communities seeking remedies through the National Green Tribunal or coastal authorities