India and France adopt roadmap on blue Economy Ocean Governance

India and france adopt roadmap on blue economy ocean governance

What is the news :

• India and France have adopted a road map on the blue economy and ocean governance to enhance their partnership for the exploitation and preservation of marine resources through economic, infrastructure and scientific cooperation.
• The road map was adopted at a meeting between external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris.
• Jaishankar and Le Drian appreciated the close cooperation between India and France during the covid-19 pandemic and agreed on deepening the strategic partnership.
• France is among India’s closest strategic partners in Europe, and the two sides are also working with third countries in areas such as critical technologies and resilient supply chains.

Blue Economy:

• Oceans cover three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, contain 97% of the Earth’s water, and represent 99% of the living area on the planet .
• Oceans are claimed to be last frontiers of growth and development, but the immense potential that the Oceans present remains to be tapped fully.
• However, this potential needs to be harnessed in a balanced manner, where the preservation and health of Oceans are given their due importance, along with adherence to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal #14 that states “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
• The Ocean-based Blue Economy is the next sunrise issue for development experts.
• Blue Economy is based on the idea to use locally available resources and employ renewable inputs, for example, “ocean-as-a-resource” that addresses the problems of resource scarcity and enables sustainable development .

• This marine based economic development will reduce environmental risks and mitigate ecological challenges.
• As a result, the optimized and responsible resource utilization will enable to achieve balanced socio-economic development.
• The blue economy has diverse components, including established traditional ocean industries such as fisheries, tourism, and maritime transport, but also new and emerging activities, such as offshore renewable energy, aquaculture, seabed extractive activities, and marine biotechnology and bio prospecting.

About the roadmap:

• The road map is part of measures agreed by the two countries to deepen their bilateral strategic partnership, especially in trade and investments, defence and security, health, education, research and innovation, energy and climate change.
• The “India-France Roadmap on the Blue Economy and Ocean Governance”  envisages enhancing partnership in blue economy through institutional, economic, infrastructure and scientific cooperation.
• Under the road map, France and India will commit to “joint actions to make the Indo-Pacific an area of sustainable growth, rule of law and oceans protection”.
• What roadmap covers :

1. Setting up an India-France partnership on the blue economy and ocean governance

• India and France plan to set up an India-France partnership on the blue economy and ocean governance whose scope will encompass maritime trade, marine trade in services, ports, the naval industry, fisheries, ,marine technology and scientific research, ocean observation, ocean modelling and forecasting services, marine biodiversity, marine protected areas, renewable marine energy, marine manufacturing industries, marine ecosystem-based management and integrated coastal management, marine eco-tourism, inland waterways, cooperation between competent administrations on civil maritime issues, marine spatial planning as well as international law of the sea and related multilateral negotiations.
• The signatories will ensure that the competent ministries and institutions are involved in this partnership, which will have an inter ministerial dimension and include, as required, the private sector.

  Institutional pillar: forging a common vision of ocean governance based on the rule of law

• India and France are attached to international law of the sea and its compliance across all seas and oceans. So as to strengthen international law of the sea and adapt to new challenges, they will coordinate their positions in multilateral bodies and negotiations, whether it concerns the International Seabed Authority, the International Maritime Organisation, regional sea conventions dealing with maritime affairs and where they are both Parties, or the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the UNCLOS on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), among others.
• They will hold discussions on the development and strengthening of marine protected areas throughout the world, particularly as part of the negotiations on the future biodiversity global framework. They will also enhance their coordination in view of the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in 2022 so as to support the initiation of negotiations for a global agreement on marine plastic waste and micro plastic. More broadly, each signatory will regularly involve the other in conferences, workshops and colloquiums on the blue economy and ocean governance that it is likely to organise.
• The French signatory reiterates its invitation for an Indian inter ministerial delegation to visit France to meet the blue economy ecosystem as soon as the public health situation so permits

3. Economic pillar: making the blue economy a source of sustainable growth

• India and France will make the blue economy a priority in the development of their economic exchanges. They will facilitate contacts between economic actors, business heads organisations, technopoles and maritime clusters of the two countries, cross investments, as well as visa issuance to entrepreneurs active in the blue economy.

4. Infrastructure pillar: cooperating on sustainable and resilient coastal and waterways infrastructure

• India is looking to develop its ports, with a focus on sustainable infrastructure, including eco- fishing ports. In this regard, both sides will encourage sharing of knowledge and methodologies for upgrading current infrastructure, increasing their resilience to climate change, increasing port capacity, developing storage facilities, plug and play infrastructure in the ports, with a special focus on developing ‘green and smart ports’ equipped with sustainable dredging and ship recycling, which is also one of France’s priority areas and involves a zero waste and circular economy approach.

5. Scientific and academic pillar: better knowledge of the ocean to innovate and protect

• ndia and France will remain fully committed to the Knowledge Summit, organised periodically by France and India to foster bilateral scientific cooperation.
• The scientific department of the Embassy of France in India and the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India will be points of contact to lay the groundwork for a workshop dedicated to marine science during the Knowledge Summit.

India’s Economic and Trade Potential:

• The Indian Ocean Region is abundant with resources, particularly in the sectors of fisheries, aquaculture, ocean energy, sea-bed mining and minerals.
• There are tremendous economic opportunities to develop marine tourism and shipping activities.
• Among these resources, fisheries and minerals are the most commercially viable industries. Commercial and artisanal fisheries sustain the livelihoods of more than 38 million people worldwide.
• In the Indian Ocean, fish production increased drastically from 861,000 tons in 1950 to 11.5 million tons in 2010.
• The development of Blue Economy can serve as a growth catalyst in realizing the vision to become a $10 trillion economy by 2032.
• Additionally, the Indian Ocean Region is of strategic importance to India’s economic growth as the most of the country’s oil, and gas is imported through the sea. Further, this dependency is expected to rise by 2025 exponentially.
• The Indian Ocean Region presents tremendous trade potential for the country.
• The countries in the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) exhibited significant dynamism in the past few years as the trade in the region increased by over four times from US$ 302 billion in 2003 to US$ 1.2 trillion in 2012

Way Forward for India

• In this era of advanced technology, oceans will become new centers of economic activity. Oceans already account for significant trade and commerce in the fields of shipping, offshore oil and gas, fishing, undersea cables, and tourism.
• Besides these areas, there are other emerging industries such as aquaculture, marine biotechnology, ocean energy and sea-bed mining that have the potential to create jobs and spur worldwide economic growth.
• The Indian Ocean region needs a sustainable and inclusive framework for international partnerships.
• Countries in the region need to not only coordinate and manage the growing security challenges in the region but also realize the substantial economic potential the Indian Ocean area presents.
• India has significantly upped its development efforts in Seychelles, Mauritius, Africa, and Sri Lanka. Such an approach earmarks a shift from the traditional focus on naval operations and anti-piracy efforts to that of environmental 5 protection, national security, infrastructure creation, industrial capacity building and marine development.
• India’s commitment to strengthen its cooperation with the regional partners and build a sustainable ocean economy aligns well with its domestic mega-modernisation projects that will enable the nation to harness the full potential of the Ocean based Blue Economy.