Coastal and Ocean Resilience Data Collaborative (CORD)

India’s long coastline is home to millions of people, critical infrastructure, rich ecosystems and economic activity, but is increasingly exposed to cyclones, flooding, coastal erosion, rising sea levels and other climate-related risks. Fragmented coastal data across government departments and sectors, limited interoperability and gaps in cross-sector coordination constrain risk-informed planning, resource mobilisation and long-term resilience. To address this, we are developing the Coastal & Ocean Resilience Data Collaborative (CORD), an interoperable open data platform and a collaborative framework for resilient coastal planning. The CORD is being developed with support from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, focusing on vulnerable coastal regions across Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

CORD will bring together government, researchers and other changemakers across coastal resilience to better understand the interconnected risks coastal communities face. The platform will connect and standardise fragmented datasets on coastal hazards, infrastructure, communities, environmental conditions, public finance, while incorporating local knowledge and community participation. By applying advanced analytics, AI and Machine Learning (ML), and building institutional capacity to help decision-makers and practitioners identify vulnerabilities and resource gaps, understand interconnected risks, prioritise interventions and mobilise investments for climate resilience. It will also support institutional capacity building to strengthen the use of data in planning and decision-making.

Designed as an open-source, modular platform, CORD’s architecture and approaches can be adapted to different coastal contexts. By bringing together diverse data, analytical tools and local knowledge, it aims to support more informed, participatory and locally grounded approaches to coastal resilience.

Earlier in 2026, CORD was endorsed as a project under UN Ocean Practices for the Decade Programme, joining a global movement of science-based initiatives working toward the "science we need for the ocean we want."