After spending a lot of money on sea walls, the Kerala government is now creating an eco-fence against natural calamities like the tsunami that ravaged the state in 2004.

Under the Harithatheeram Project, the government will fence the state's 590-km coastline by planting mangroves, casuarinas, thespesias, pandanus and other species that can combat tidal waves. The Rs 25.5-crore programme will be carried out jointly by the forest and the fisheries departments in collaboration with local self-governments under the rehabilitation scheme for tsunami victims.

The project will be implemented in 87 coastal wards and will conclude in December 2009.