Blue Economy for Prosperity in Post Pandemic World

Key Takeaways: 

• The concept of Blue Economy seeks to promote economic growth by mapping the potential of water-based resources and ensuring environmental sustainability of the oceans and coastal areas. 
• Blue Economy contributes to about USD 1.5 tn of goods, products, services globally and generates 350 million jobs and has the potential to create USD 12 tn market opportunities.
•  Blue Economy, which addresses growing concern over sustainably harnessing the ocean and water body resources, has been generated from the realisation that the constant exploitation and overuse can lead to depletion of resources and harm the ocean health, which can have irrevocable consequences.
• Regional and global economies depend upon healthy oceans but ocean health is degrading due to marine pollution and various other factors. There is a need to ensure preservation of the health of the oceans and the climate.
• The Blue Economy is one of the pathways for achieving sustainability. Sustainable financing is crucial for enhancing growth of the Blue Economy.
• The effective harnessing of Blue Economy by mankind presets a condition to care for ecological balance, ocean health and regeneration of these precious resources. The key is to create synergy to collaborate with the stakeholders to ensure that the Blue Economy contributes to the economy.
• The blue clusters and the maritime clusters are an innovative approach towards expanding the scope of Blue Economy and ensuring blue growth.
• Public-Private Partnership is an important tool for developing Blue Economy which requires sharing of technology and regulatory coastal governance. India cannot become an economic power unless it becomes a maritime power.
• Sustainable Blue Economy in the India Ocean Region would require concerted efforts by government, private sector and scientific community.
• Seafood is one of the biggest sectors in the foreign markets and India ranks 3rd in production in the Fisheries sector and 2nd in Aquaculture. The Indian Seafood exports currently stand at USD 6.78 bn while the sector comprises of small and medium-sized enterprises and employs 14 million people. Healthy Aquaculture is a critical component of global protein consumption.
• There is a need for a strong regional framework for food security. The measures which are needed to ensure blue growth and the improvement in the Fisheries sector are technological advancements, improvement of infrastructure projects, sanitary and hygiene measures, R&D and importantly, tackling issues of marine pollution. 
• Maritime transportation accounts for about 80 % of the global trade while for India, much of India’s international trade, which is about 90 per cent by volume and 70 per cent by value, is carried through maritime transport as per the Ministry of Shipping. 
• The pandemic led to reduced workforce and cargo congestion due to closure of ports which in turn caused disruption in the supply chain including the movement of essential goods. It also has had an impact on the Cruise industry due to the travel and tourism restrictions.
• Going forward, the Shipping, Port and Logistics sector needs to make use of the modern, sustainable and green technologies, sustainable production of goods and services, alternative and carbon-neutral fuels and autonomous solutions to bring about revolutionary changes in the shipping and shipbuilding industries. There is also the need for enhancing modern and sustainable technologies, port facilities and maritime collaborations by the Indian industry.
• India should also explore business opportunities in the area of transportation of materials recovered from deep-seabed, port facilities and storage facilities.
• There is a need for enhancing imports, Ease of Doing Business, port modernisation and a public-private partnership in the Shipping sector while improving fiscal regime for developing Blue Economy. Based on Norway’s model of Coastal Green Shipping, India should also look at opportunities for evolving a program on Indian Green Shipping.
• In the Tourism sector, sustainable policies for developing tourism need to be developed with collaboration from the private sector and professional tourism bodies.
• The State & Central Government can collaborate to improve the ecosystem of the coastal states. There is a need for destination creation, affordable pay, the involvement of local community and improvement of livelihoods, specialised investments & revision of policy guidelines.
• There is also the need for flexible and practical policies and combined efforts from the MoEF and the Central and Coastal Zone Development Authority to develop Blue Economy sectors in the coastal states.
• To accelerate investment in Blue Economy, there is a need for long term financing, business opportunities and innovation, sustainable financing by engaging start- ups and venture capital and leveraging private financing and expanding the scope of Blue Bonds.
• There has to be an amalgamation of Sustainable, Environmental, Circular and Global aspects of Blue Economy and circular flow of income with a focus on financial strategy by the companies. A transition towards Blue Circular Economy in the Food System is crucial.
• There has to be a proper international structure for Blue Economy financing. This can be done by bringing in the investors, business community and the innovators together and the enterprises need to provide solutions to the challenges related to the sustainability of ocean businesses.
• The stakeholders need to focus on science-based, community- based and participative-based understanding for developing Blue Economy.