World Oceans Day 2022: What's the status of India's blue economy?

What is World Oceans Day?

The ocean covers over 70% of the planet, and it is a life source for all organisms on earth. Over 90% of the significant fish population has gone down by huge numbers, and over 50% of coral reefs have been destroyed.  

Every year on the 8th of June, World Oceans Day is celebrated to remind us of the value and importance of oceans in our lives; they are the lungs of the earth and an integral part of the biosphere. The primary purpose of this day is to refresh the public's memory of the impact of their actions on the oceans while creating a worldwide movement of global citizens for the ocean and developing a project toward the sustainable management of the world’s oceans. 

This year’s theme for World Oceans Day is "Revitalization: collective action for the ocean". This year will mark the first offline event of the day's celebrations after being cancelled twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Blue economy: 

Over time, the expression blue economy has come to signify the multitude of ocean resources that are procurable in a country, its contribution to the government, how and when the ocean economy can be brought to use by developing and developed countries, and finally, environmental and ecological sustainability of the oceans. 

Blue economy and India: 

In the Indian context, the blue economy is a sizeable socio-economic opportunity. With broad maritime interests, the blue economy has great potential to support India’s economic growth. The Ministry of Earth Sciences pushed for the draft blue economy policy in 2021 and has come up with a vision and strategy to use marine resources sustainably. 

India‘s coastline spans a massive area of 75,000 km, wherein nine states are coastal and 1,382 islands spread across the country. Overall, over 4 million people of the fisherfolk and coastal communities depend primarily on the coastal economy for their sustenance. 

 

Sagarmala Project: 

The Sagarmala project is one of the main aspects of India’s push for a blue economy. Brought in the year 2015, this project includes reinforcing coastal infrastructure, constructing ports, developing inland waterways, promoting tourism, intensifying fishing, and creating special economic zones.

Over the years, there has been sizeable progress in the Sagarmala Project while referring to the capacity of major ports in India. The installed capacity of major ports has gone up 79 per cent to 1,561 MT per annum from 871.5 MT in 2014-15. Furthermore, the waiting time for inbound and outbound cargo has gone down. Today, the average turnaround time is 52.80 hours, compared to 96 hours in 2014-15. To reduce the cost of shipping, the government is also expanding inland waterways. 

There have been setbacks, however. The lack of financial investments and inadequate fund mobilisation has caused problems.

Draft blue economy policy:

The Indian government has developed a draft policy that will attempt to give a framework that will allow sim at unlocking the country’s potential whilst building towards economic growth and welfare. The draft policy will focus on seven areas specifically - marine fisheries, aquaculture, and fish processing; national accounting framework for the blue economy and ocean governance; manufacturing, emerging industries, trade, technology, services, and skill development; coastal marine spatial planning and tourism; logistics, infrastructure and shipping including trans-shipment; security, strategic dimensions, and international engagement; and coastal and deep-sea mining and offshore energy. 

The UN Secretary-General has said, Antonio Guterres has said: "It is time to realise that, in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change, we urgently need collective action to revitalise the ocean. That means finding a new balance in our relationship with the marine environment."

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