The primary goal of the FERAL component of the Post Tsunami Environmental Initiative was to build protocols for restoration of coastal habitats based on a combination of literature reviews and field experience.

Its specific objectives were: 

• To conduct studies in coastal vulnerability at a spatial level.
• A spatial analysis of land use change and social change on the Coromandel coast of India over the last three decades.
• To identify sites for pilot restoration using and extending PTEI Phase I results; coastal sand dunes, mangroves and tropical dry evergreen forest habitats were covered.
• To mobilise local stakeholders and build local capacities at selected restoration sites.
• To mobilise institutional support and financial sustainability of the work through linkages with local and district authorities and
• To set up pilot demonstrations sites for restoration of native coastal habitats. While the last two objectives covered the entire Coromandel coast, the restoration related activities were limited to patches of degraded native habitat lying within 50 km of the coast which extends from the South of Pulicat Lake to Point Calimere in Nagapattinam.