Abstract:
Sri Lanka is an island state with a coastline of approximately 1600 km and a land area of
around 64,000 sq. km. Coastal erosion has been identified as a major natural hazard faced
by Sri Lanka for a very long time. Its impact has increased at alarming rates due to
unplanned human intervention in the coastal zone and with more than half of the
country's total population settled in coastal areas, the unplanned development of coastal
infrastructure resulting from increased settlements has naturally led to accelerated
degradation of the coastal environment. Although the coastal problems of Sri Lanka have
been recognized from the turn of the century it is in the last two decades that growing
attention has been focused on these problems because they have been seriously
aggravated
