Blue Economy | Indian Economy for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Introduction

• The concept seeks to promote economic growth, social inclusion and the preservation or improvement of livelihoods while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of the oceans and coastal areas.
• Evolution: The idea got a boost by Gunter Pauli’s book, “The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs”.
• The blue economy consists of sectors whose returns are linked to the living “renewable” resources of the oceans (such as fisheries) as well as those related to non-living and therefore “non-renewable” resources (including extractive industries, such as dredging, seabed mining, and offshore oil and gas, when undertaken in a manner that does not cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem).

Significance of Blue Economy for India

• Boosting Domestic and Regional Trade: Domestic trade will get an impetus through coastal shipping and inland water transportation. Foreign trade will increase through the development of Coastal Economic Zones and modernising port infrastructure.
• Port-led Development: Blue economic development focuses on livelihood generation by creating employment opportunities and improving health and living standards of 560 million strong coastal communities of India. This is in convergence with the SAGARMALA Project of the Indian govt.
• Harnessing Ocean Wealth: Indian Ocean has abundant resources in the form of fisheries, aquaculture, ocean energy, sea-bed mining and minerals like polymetallic nodules (PMN).
• Ecological Sustainability: Blue economy focuses on more fuel-efficient, cheaper and reliable mode of transportation, enhancing coastal biodiversity resilience and promoting ecologically safe industry and tourism.
• Strategically Important: Indo-Pacific region has become the new zone of convergence in international politics. A robust Blue Economy will help in safeguarding India’s geopolitical interests by balancing China’s aggressive posturing and becoming the Net Security Provider in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• Strengthening Connectivity: Blue economy promotes relations and strengthens cultural ties with neighbouring nations. India’s projects in the form of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) is in line with the Blue Economy.

Challenges in the Realisation of Blue Economy

• Unsustainable extraction from marine resources, such as unsustainable fishing, exploited by illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
• Physical alterations and destruction of marine and coastal habitats and landscapes due largely to coastal development, deforestation, and mining. 
• Unplanned and unregulated development in the narrow coastal interface and nearshore areas has led to the marginalization of poor communities, and loss or degradation of critical habitats.
• Marine pollution, for example, in the form of excess nutrients from untreated sewage, agricultural runoff, and marine debris such as plastics.
• Impacts of climate change, for example, in the form of both slow-onset events like sea-level rise and more intense and frequent weather events.
• Other Factors: Ineffective governance institutions, inadequate economic incentives, technological advances, lack of or inadequate capacities, lack of full implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other legal instruments, and insufficient application of management tools have often led to poorly regulated activities.

Initiatives Taken by the Indian Government

• Sagarmala Project: Vision of the Sagarmala Programme is to reduce logistics cost for export-import and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment.
• Coastal Economic Zones: The government identifies 14 CEZs in the National Perspective Plan for Sagarmala Programme.
  • CEZs aims to promote exports by providing infrastructure and facilities to entrepreneurs to set up businesses and industries near Ports.
• Indian Ocean Rim Association: India has been taking active participation in the IORA for promotion of blue economy in Indian Ocean littoral states.
• Matsaya Sampada Yojana: It is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of the fisheries sector in the country.
  • It will bring about the Blue Revolution by harnessing of fisheries potential in a sustainable, responsible, inclusive and equitable manner.
• Polymetallic Nodules: India has received the sanction from International Seabed Authority for deep-sea mining in the Central Indian Ocean.

Way Forward

• India should focus on marine transport, communication services and the creation of a knowledge hub for marine research and development, alongside the more traditional sectors like fisheries and coastal tourism.
• India should try to balance economic benefits with sustainability for meeting the broader goals of growth, employment generation, equity and protection of the environment while developing an effective response mechanism to address humanitarian crises and natural disasters.