A government-appointed urban planning panel has cautioned that Goa’s expanding cities need urgent preparation for rising heat, overloaded waste systems and seawater intrusion as population density increases. Compiled in the draft Goa State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, the recommendations call for stronger biodiversity protection, ecological urban design, and infrastructure reform to safeguard both biodiversity and residents.
The committee’s assessment, part of a wider public consultation, notes a marked decline in Goa’s urban waterway health. Once-fertile rivers such as Sal in Margao have become heavily polluted “now a dead river,” rivers are all suffering severe ecological degradation. The panel warns that unchecked sewage discharges, littering, and concretisation are disrupting aquatic ecosystems and endangering freshwater species. Report have highlighted that many of Goa’s urban centres, including Margao, Ponda, and Panaji, were originally built on wetlands.
The committee has urged several interventions to address the looming threats. Planners recommend urban farming programmes, restoration of degraded water bodies, and strategic development of green belts and forest buffers up to 500 metres wide around cities. Chemical pesticide use should be curtailed to protect vital pollinators such as honeybees. Simultaneously, solid waste infrastructure must be overhauled. The report notes that the regional Saligao waste facility, servicing 27 villages in North Goa, is already overburdened.
Equally concerning is coastal encroachment. The draft reveals that Goa’s shoreline has receded inland at a rate of around one metre per year over recent decades—an accelerated threat to coastal towns and infrastructure. Experts warn that rising sea levels combined with unchecked development could expose hundreds of structures to flooding and erosion without immediate policy intervention and coastal zone management.
To combat urban heating, the plan calls for green infrastructure—tree-lined avenues, urban forests, reflective surfaces and rain gardens—to cool cities, regulate temperatures and recharge groundwater. Urban planners emphasise the importance of permeable pavements, retention basins and green cover to reduce the ‘urban heat island effect’ that has made Goa’s cities warmer than rural surroundings in recent years.
Experts argue that the strategy must be integrated into municipal development plans and town planning regulations to ensure enforceability. Without necessary reforms, they warn, Goa’s ecological wealth—its rivers, lakes, coastlines and biodiversity—will continue to erode under pressure from urbanisation. As Panaji, Margao and Mapusa expand, the plan recommends mandating environmental impact assessments, safeguarding natural wetlands and enforcing buffer zones around sensitive ecosystems.
