India-Norway Task Force on Blue Economy

The concept of the Blue economy was first introduced by Gunter Pauli, about the blue economy in his 2010 book named “The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs”. This term introduces us to the sustainable usage of resources from water or oceans that further helps in economic growth and improvement of livelihoods, thus creating jobs that also lead to a healthy ocean ecosystem. The key point of the opening of the IndiaNorway task force on the blue economy is that the Blue Economy is home to fisheries, maritime transport, tourism, renewable energy, climate change,  and waste management. All these factors are helpful in sustainable development as they lead to the conservation of oceans and seas and generate livelihood to improve the living standard of communities associated with coastal areas.

News Related to Blue Economy

The Blue Economy is recently in the news as the key point of the opening of the IndiaNorway Task Force on the blue economy was inaugurated jointly by both countries for sustainable development. During the visit of Norwegian Prime Ministers back in 2019, this task force was launched. The two countries, India and Norway, came together and collaborated on this Integrated Ocean Management & Research.

Key Points of the Opening of India-Norway Task Force On Blue Economy

• There are many points related to the opening of the India-Norway Task Force as a bilateral collaboration. In a very sustainable manner, this collaboration intends the management of resources in the oceans. 

• The basic shared interest in the blue economy and sustainable development of the use of marine resources is the India-Norway cooperation.

• Both countries, India and Norway, desire the advancement of scientific knowledge about the blue economy. Further, the task force’s basic purpose is to develop and follow the joint initiatives of India- Norway.

• The key points of the opening of the IndiaNorway Task Force on the blue economy intend to mobilise stakeholders from both the countries at the highest level and ensure the commitments and progress across ministries and related organisations.

About Blue Economy

Norway is a country that exports 70% of Norway’s maritime industry and thus is an expert in the Ocean Economy. These new dimensions in the Indian-Norway relations would help India in a deeper understanding of the maritime industry. 

India-Norway Relations

There has been a strong relationship between India and Norway since establishing this cordial relationship in 1947. Both the countries are respectful of each other for commonly shared values, including rules of laws, democracy, and human rights. Thus both countries are increasingly engaging in trade and technology-related fields. Till 2015-2016 Norway and India have traded for $1.1 billion.

Challenges to Blue Economy

There are numerous challenges and key points of the opening of the IndiaNorway Task Force on the blue economy, including 

• Unsustainable Exploitation: the Unsustainable extraction of water resources, including fishing, is a result of technological advancements engaged with improper access to rising demand and fish stocks. as a result of technological improvements coupled with poorly managed access to fish stocks and rising demand. According to the estimations given by The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), more than 57 percent of fish stocks are either fully exploited or depleted. Other basic reasons for the exploitations are illegal, unregulated, or unreported fishing. Approximately 11-26 million fish are caught per annum with this method.

• Threat to Marine Ecology: there are physical alterations and exploitations of marine habitats due to coastal erosion, deforestation, mining, and development. These activities are also responsible for the destruction of infrastructure and livelihoods.

• Marine Pollution: an essential thing to look upon is marine pollution as oceans are continuously polluted in one or other form, including untreated waste discharged into seawater, agricultural runoff, and absolute debris plastics.

• Climate Change: another reason or challenge to the blue economy is the impacts of climate change, as the uncertainty of climate is a major issue. Some of the challenges in seawater are acidity, fluctuation in sea temperature, and oceanic currents. 

• Unfair and Unregulated Trade Practices: the basic challenge for the blue economy is unfair, unlawful trading as many times foreign operators restrict the transfer of knowledge specifically about fishing to the national operators. 

Conclusion

The blue economy is the import and export of marine resources. The key points of the opening of the IndiaNorway Task Force on the blue economy are that these resources are helpful as it leads to sustainable development and contributes to the economy of the country. Since India has three water bodies surrounding its boundaries, the inability to utilise marine resources is a major issue. These issues are due to a lack of manpower that is skilled for the same and technological advancements. Thus the blue economy is a high priority for India, so it can be helpful in solving such issues. Further another major step taken by India is the key points of the opening of the India-Norway Task Force on the blue economy. This step is also beneficial for the advancement of relations between India and Norway.