Event reports
Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative to India of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), highlighted the importance of the Indian Ocean to Germany despite being geographically quite distant from it. Apart from its recognized importance for economy and trade, the Indian Ocean has particularly gained significance because of the exploit of open seas resources through deep sea mining. He also stressed the need for environment friendly initiatives. Nitya Nanda, Associate Director at TERI, in his remarks, provided the conceptual overview for the conference by linking the discussion to SDG 14 which specifies sustainable development of marine resources. Ambassador Meera Shankar, former Indian Ambassador to the US, C. Siva Kumar, MMA, and Dr. M. A. Atmanand, Director of the National Institute of Ocean Technology, emphasized among other topics the problem of pollution. While there would be recognition of climate change affecting pollution, the focus was on pollution on land, and not on sea, and the effect it has on rainfall.
In the first session under the moderation of N. Sathiya Moorthy, Senior Fellow and Director of the Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, the significance of marine resources for India and the world was analyzed by the panelists. Prof. Pranab Mukhopadhaya, Goa University, focused on the marine ecosystem services from an ecological economist perspective. He pointed out the lack of knowledge and assessment with regard to the valuation of the marine resources. Tuhin Ghosh, Associate Professor at Jadavpur University, presented his thoughts about human-delta interaction. He highlighted that the narrative on marine and marine resources remained totally neglected as the emphasis was much on surface water and river water systems. Kunal Chakraborty, scientist at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, provided an overview of various marine resources, and their classification. Following him, Fraddry D. Souza, TERI, outlined the challenges that remained to marine resources sustainability.
The second session was moderated by Ajay Shankar, Former Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The participants discussed about the interplay between economy and sustainable development with regard to marine resources. Calling the blue economy the new economic growth driver, SK Mohanty, highlighted the challenges in estimating its value and how it was emerging as a comprehensive framework in many developing countries. He argued for India to adopt a National Ocean Policy. Sebastian Mathew, Executive Director of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), recommended that India needs to be at the helm in the Indian Ocean with reference to the protection of livelihoods of coastal communities and conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems based on good governance principles. P K Ghosh, Indian Representative to CSCAP International Study Groups on Maritime Issues, subsumed that the key to achieving any degree of sustainability was multidimensional cooperation at all levels. Further, he pontificated that global regimes, institutions, and legal frameworks could provide scope for better global marine governance.
Geeta Madhavan, President of the International Law and Strategic Analysis Institute, moderated the third session focused on International Laws and Institutions for governing oceans. While Yugraj Singh Yadava, Director, Bay of Bengal Programme- Intergovernmental Organisation, pointed out to the tragedy of the commons and poor performance of states in global institutions, Abhay K. Singh, Research Fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, spoke on the shifting narratives with regard to marine resources. Challenging accepted notions on standard setting, Nitya Nanda’s presentation highlighted how in today’s world, standard setting has become an international business which ends up increasing the GDP of the countries that set these international standards.
Session four dealt with India’s maritime strategy and focused on foreign policy and security. Moderated by C. Uday Bhaskar, Director of the Society for Policy Studies, Deepak Shetty, former Director General of Shipping & Secretary to the Government of India, explained the steps taken by India in adhering to various maritime regulations and increasing their compliance. Following him, Swati Ganeshan, TERI, expanded the debate on the SDGs with specific emphasis on their integrated nature. Krishnendra Meena, Assistant Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, criticized the Indian Maritime Doctrine and the new emerging concept of Indo-Pacific geography. He emphasized that it was a geo political construct, and not a coherent geographical region. Prof. Sanjay Chaturvedi, Panjab University, argued that Indo-Pacific was one of the strategic geographies that India should invest in. During the ensuing discussions, it was quite apparent that while China had adopted a comprehensive policy of engagement on a variety of these inter-related issues, India continued to lag behind.
The fifth session under the moderation of A.C. Anil, Chief Scientist and Professor at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), tried to examine the future of marine resources, and future sectors of oceans. While Ravishankar C. N., Director of the Central Institute of Fisheries Technologies, focused on technological advancements and research that was being undertaken to reduce by-catch and offered suggestions on creating awareness around wasteful fishing, S. A. Sannasiraj, Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, focused on the future of alternative energy, particularly the potential of ocean – both tidal and wave – energy in India. Uma Shankar Panda, scientist at the Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management Project Directorate, spoke on SDG 14 relating to life under water, its various sub targets, and their respective indicators. Prof Prasad Kumar Bhaskaran, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, explained in his presentation on the impact of climate change on wind, waves and tropical cyclones.
Concluding the 4th TERI-KAS Resource Dialogue, Ajay Shankar emphasized the need for a legally binding framework that is required for the marine resources and system. He also pointed out to areas where more work was required: 1. Protection of coast land, 2. Economic growth, 3. Advocacy for civil society and local governance.
