Beach gets Asia's first blue flag certification - Fusion - WeRIndia

In Odisha, the World Environment Day celebrations are going to be quite cheerful. Odisha’s Chandrabhaga beach, on the coast of Konark, has become the first beach in Asia to get the Blue Flag certification.

The Blue Flag certification is a tag given to beaches that are clean and environmentally friendly.

A beach with Blue Flag standards must be plastic-free and equipped with a functional waste management system.

Tourists must have both water and amenities of international standards available to them. A beach with Blue Flag standards should also have facilities for studying the environmental impact around the area.

Arvind Nautiyal is the project head of the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM). The SICOM is an Environment Ministry’s body that works to manage coastal areas in accordance with the Blue Flag standards.

Nautiyal has explained the Blue Flag standards, which the Chandrabhaga beach has now achieved. Currently, the SICOM is developing twelve more beaches in the country.

Included in this list of twelve beaches are the Chiwla and Bhogave beaches, both of which are in Maharashtra. The list also has one beach each from Diu, Goa, Daman, Puducherry, and the islands of Nicobar and Andaman.

The Environment Ministry first embarked on the Blue Flag project in December of 2017. Now, the Chandrabhaga beach has become the first to achieve the Blue Flag standards.

The Environment Ministry has achieved a milestone by ensuring the environmental friendliness of this beach.

Nautiyal explained that a beach must strictly comply with 33 environment and tourism-related conditions in order to achieve the Blue Flag standards.

The Blue Flag Standards were established in 1985 by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), which is based in Copenhagen.

Now, since the Chandrabhaga beach has met these standards, it will become the first Asian beach to be awarded with the honor of the Blue Flag certification.

Image credit: Konark Beach (aka Chandrabhaga beach) image by Ankur Panchbudhe is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ankurp/38329936401