Empowering Student and Academic Communities For Coastal Cleaning and Beach Sweeping programs along Arabian Sea Using Information and Communication Technologies.

Empowering Students and Academic communities for Coastal Cleaning and Beach Sweeping through Information and Communication Technology is essential for environmental management along coastal region. This presentation deals with the experiences in coastal cleaning and beaches sweeping programs through student communities from Academic Institutions, Schools, colleges and University in India.The city of Mumbai in India is termed as metropolitan city, as it is having population more than 18 million. The city of Mumbai is surrounded by the Arabian sea and number of rivers and estuaries along the coast of Arabian sea. The population of the Mumbai city poses serious threat to the coast and beaches as lot of waste is generated in city and some of the waste is dumped along coastal region. The sewage disposal in to the Arabian sea also increases the marine litter and formation debris. The schools, colleges and university students and academic communities are playing an important role in coastal and beaches clean up programs from time to time.The coastal clean up and Beach sweeping programs by students not only conserve the local environment but it also increase the tourism activities Along these coast and beaches .This presentation is based on experiences and lesson learned on coastal cleaning and beach sweeping in Mumbai city from last 5 years.The presentation discusses the causes of marine litter and marine waste accumulation along the coast and beaches of Mumbai city, its effects on environment and local community. The presentation focuses on some successful examples of involving the students, school organizations and educational institutions in coastal clean up and beach sweeping program as well as it introduces the necessity for marine environmental awareness education from childhood. The presentation signifies need of providing tool box, source materials and equipping them for effective and efficient beach sweeping programs periodically for environmental management along coast line.