New concepts of Environmental Softness Ladder’, Minimum Beach level’ for coastal sites, Minimum Floor level’ for buildings and a C-Guide’ system to administer the norms are the key features of the Climate Change Adaptation Guidelines for Coastal Protection and Management in India’. The norms are part of a holistic approach to address the manifold social, economic, management, scientific, engineering and environmental dimensions required to protect and mitigate the coastline from climate-induced impact. Prepared by FCGANZDEC (New Zealand) for the Global Environment Facility and the Asian Development Bank, the guidelines are to be submitted to the Union Ministry of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation and Development Board for approval soon. Bridging the gap The regulatory guidelines proposed bridge the gap between the existing Coastal Regulation Zone regulations and management of future events. After examining the existing regulations and their enforcement, the report has pointed out that CRZ makes no allowance for Sea Level Rise (SLR) and other factors causing elevated water levels. The focus has been on horizontal distances, including the hazard line, albeit yet to be put into practice. To allow for SLR and other factors causing elevated water levels, the concept of the Minimum Beach Level (MBL), the highest sea level that may occur at a coastal site and a Minimum Floor Level (MFL) for buildings has been recommended. The country has more than 7,500 km of a diverse coastline with varied geology and geomorphology and significant populations live in these low-lying flood-prone but commercially important areas. The Environment Softness Ladder’ has been mooted as part of the Intervention Guidelines’ that incorporate an understanding of a range of soft and hard intervention strategies that can be considered to address climate change impacts on the coast. The C-Guide’ system developed for administration of norms is a checklist of choices to protect the coast under climate change and provides gives guidance for practitioners and decision makers. Databases have been established with IIT Delhi; National Institute of Oceanography, Goa; Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune; and IIT, Powai and CLIM Systems from New Zealand, to create weather patterns, wave climate, storm surge and sea level all along the Indian coast up to the year 2100 in a climate change scenario at 50-km or smaller coastal grids. A broad conclusion of the norms is that the beach is the best form of coastal protection. However, harder solutions may be required at some sites based on the assets to be protected and conditions.