India and Blue Economy
For Indian Ocean region, Blue Economy has importance in food security, sea borne trade, coastal tourism, alternative source of energy, coastal urbanization and so on. Firstly, Blue economy aims at ensuring higher productivity of fishes with lesser environmental damage by adopting sophisticated technologies for conservation and processing of fishes. Secondly, already 90% of trade is conducted via Oceans. With increasing demand from Asian economies like India and china and the active participation of Indian Ocean Rim Association nations (IORA), the concept of blue economy assumes significance, especially in the Indian Ocean region. Thirdly, Littoral states in the Indian Ocean region have lot of tourist attractions, which mandates development of these regions by pouring in more investments. This will go a long way in developing robust blue economy in these regions. However, the possible environmental degradation due to the tourism activities has to be closely monitored and mitigated. Fourthly, Ocean renewable energy is a major source of clean energy which largely remains untapped. Wave energy, tidal energy, solar energy, hydroelectric energy, wind energy can act as alternatives to fossil fuels which need to be tapped as a part of blue economy initiatives. Fifthly, Climate change, sea encroachments, water pollution, dumping of wastes, unregulated exploitation of marine resources have severely affected the health of the oceans. As a result, marine biodiversity is eroded and several species face the risk of extinction without adequate compensating and mitigating mechanisms in place. In this scenario, the blue economy approach would immensely contribute to the restoration of ocean health. It is estimated that approximately 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been already lost and another 20% degraded. Also, studies reveal that the mangrove cover have been reduced to 30 to 50% from their historical cover. Sixthly, In several littoral countries, urbanization along the coast line has brought detrimental impact by causing damages to the land use pattern, increase in spatial congestion, poor management of solid wastes and polluting the nearby oceans etc. Hence, the concept of blue economy subscribes to a urbanization with positive connotations by adhering to sustainable, low carbon and environment friendly technologies. Here the main focus will be on social empowerment of local communities and building pollution free environment. Lastly, Development of new ocean technologies which are environmental friendly and which promotes human welfare may get impetus among the countries pursuing blue economy.
Blue Economy and India
The Indian Ocean has been a fulcrum of Indian diplomacy ever since country got independence. However, India has been more concerned with the security challenges and threats in the Indian Ocean region. In Cold War era, India was extremely active in UN Adhoc Committee on Indian Ocean to keep Indian Ocean free of rivalry between great powers. Even today, India is working with states in the Indian Ocean region mainly to strengthen security of the region. Further, the US rebalancing of forces and counter-measures by China have created a new cold war in the region. Via the One Belt One Road (OBOR), China is pushing for a bigger role in global affairs. All these pose new challenges as well as new opportunities for India. But it appears that idea of blue economy can be only secondary to security and a comprehensive idea of blue economy is yet to develop. This is evident from the fact that there are 17 agencies whose mandate includes maritime matters but there is an absence of an overarching body to facilitate synergy. During PM Modi’s visit to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka, he strongly urged for cooperation in blue economy.
Most of cooperation of India in the Indian Ocean is confined to natural resources (seabed minerals) and ocean security. Should India develop a comprehensive Blue Economy perspective to cooperate with other countries?
There is no doubt that security is important, but at the same time it is high time for India to join hands with Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka to promote the idea of blue economy to reap the benefits before it becomes too late. It has to understand that in the future, the concept of blue water economy will become an important pillar in the development of the Indian Ocean region. Both blue water economy and blue economy are important for the nation’s sustainable development. The opportunity missed by India will be effectively utilized by China. China has already started to take initiatives like ‘One Belt and One Road’. With 7500km long coastline, India stands to be benefitted from the concept of blue economy. India has the will and the only thing left is the concrete actions which are required to be taken on the ground. The time is ripe when India should prepare its cadre for the blue economy.
