Padmashree Anandhan

Padmashree Anandhan is a Research Associate at the School of Conflict and Security Studies, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore. 

On the earth’s surfaces, land and water resources have been exploited beyond for the survival of the human population, but when it comes to natural restoration, the oceans take the lead over land resources. While the vastness of ocean habitat and its true potential for human lives are yet to be discovered, the ill effects of unsustainable living methods have begun to erode the health of the oceans. The increasing threats to the ocean environment have provoked countries and international organizations to come forward to unite towards the one ocean cause. 

Since the UN declared the decade (2021-2030) as “Ocean Science for Sustainable Development,” France followed by Kenya and Portugal have become the forerunners of the initiative by co-hosting the “One Ocean Summit,” in Brest from 09 to 11 February and “the UN Ocean Conference” from 24 June to 01 July. The Ocean Conference held dialogues looking into marine pollution, protection of marine ecosystems, ocean warming, and linking of SDG goal 14 and 2030 ocean agenda. It also focused on the impact of climate change due to human activities in the ocean, the challenges faced by ocean-based economies from the hindrances in ocean monitoring due to pandemics, restoration of ocean health, and sustainable ocean economy. 150 participant countries together agreed to adopt the Lisbon Declaration on “Our ocean, our future, our responsibility” to prioritize conserving oceans through linking with SDG-14 and bringing back the “General Assembly resolution 73/292 of 9 May 2019” in line with SDG. 

Increasing marine pollution and global initiatives
Increasing marine pollution has affected human health, marine ecosystems, fisheries, and agriculture pushing for the need to align prevention methods and SDGs to address all forms of pollution. To do that, it is important to not only map sea sources but also land to know the start point or the extent of pollutants. Above 3.5 billion people are directly dependent on the ocean for basic food, but are affected by land-based activities which account for 80 per cent of pollution through untreated sewage, radioactive waste, marine litter, dumping of plastics, the building of harbours, agricultural run-offs into marine bodies and accumulation of solid waste. With the intervention of the pandemic, the waste collection from the ocean was neglected, and plastic regulations were laid-back threatening the ocean health and endangering marine species. According to UNEP, 11 million tonnes of plastics are dumped into the ocean every year which incurs USD 13 billion for the economy in form of clean-up. The conference identified a few probable areas of partnership, which include new opportunities and sponsorship for commercial research partnerships, spreading awareness through campaigns such as Clean Seas, and #BeatNitrogenPollution, and continuing the critical efforts of WMO, IEA, IMO, and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission to support SIDS and LDC’s in responding to marine pollution.

Global commitments towards blue carbon
Decades of action have been taken towards bringing the carbon emission down on the earth's surface, the damage done to the ocean surface also contributes to the release of carbon into the atmosphere. The marine ecosystem includes the mangrove forests, salt marches, and seagrass, even if they are in one per cent proportion in the ocean, they can store 50 per cent of the carbon accumulated for millenniums. Therefore, when such ecosystems are disturbed by human activities, they lose their tendency leading to the release of “sequestered” carbons that have remained in for centuries. Such marine systems can be turned around for the benefit of humanity by cultivating them and protecting them which can promote carbon-free oceans, lessen the climate change effects, and avoids the loss of wetlands, and vegetation. The representative from Conservation International, a non-governmental organization highlighted how the marine systems are 35 times better at acting as carbon syncs when compared to tropical forests. Its significance to humanity not just ends with combating carbon but also in protecting against violent storms, promoting marine life, and wave action. With regards to the blue carbon coalition, Executive Director, AFD (French Development Agency), Gilles Kleitz vowed for adopting a higher ambition to protect the “carbon-rich marine ecosystem” and ensure commitment from banks to source in 200 billion under “carbon finance and ecosystem restoration.” Colombia’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development presented the progress of Colombia’s first blue carbon project on the Caribbean coast certified by Verra, a blue carbon group that has targeted sequestering one million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 30 years' time. The project has benefitted more than 400 families living in the area after six years and the Colombian government assured to start similar projects along Indo-Pacific Coast soon. As far as Indonesia, has implemented a “Blue economy development policy” which aims to the protection of marine areas, increase effectiveness, and “empowering of local communities.” Australia committed to initiating five blue carbon projects at the domestic level to promote carbon sequestration and biodiversity. It also plans to double the indigenous population as it values their traditional care towards the conservation of land and sea. On the same line the NGO, Conservation International head proposed to encourage and promote the living of the Afro-defendant population who are found to be contributing less to climate change effect but support the most in mitigation. 

Bolstering ocean-dependent economies 
Threats faced by people living in coastal areas especially the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries are the increasing population and depleting fisheries. According to IPCC, 680 million live in such ocean-dependent areas and SIDS counts the biggest share of 65 million. As per UN Global Compact, 50 per cent of people in LDCs depend on fisheries for basic protein and generate 57 million jobs. In the pre-pandemic period, SIDS and LDCs began to realize the criticality of the oceans in food security, employment, nutrition, and culture. The pandemic aggravated the existing threats leading to economic consequences. Hence under the 2030 agenda, strategies such as “build forward better” can induce to create growth and promote jobs through green and blue industries. Through this, the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway (Samoa Pathway) can be prioritized by aligning with SDG 14 goal. In terms of tourism, maritime transportation, sustainable aquaculture practices, and deep-sea mining are seen as opportunities for the SIDS and LDCs to remodel their structure in the post-pandemic. Tourism which is an important foreign revenue sector can be a shift to sustainable tourism, by invoking corporate sustainable practices to preserve nature and inculcate human resources to maintain. This can be applied mainly to the Pacific region which accounts for 90 per cent of tourism. Similar to tourism, the marine transport sector was also affected due to pandemics, which increased freight and cut down on shipping connectivity leading to a financial crunch. Aquaculture and deep sea mining, are viewed as potential areas to cultivate fishes sustainably and extract minerals (Polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides, and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts), enhance economy, address poverty, and hunger, and utilize the resources. Cook Islands, Jamaica, Kiribati, Nauru, Singapore, and Tonga have attained development at varying levels in deep-sea mining with guidance from the International Seabed Authority. Continued practice of aquaculture and mining can endanger fisheries and increase marine pollution levels.

Approach toward plastic pollution
The conference highlighted the transformation of plastics which must shift from being linear to circular. Emphasis was also laid on banning recyclable plastics and bringing innovation to recycling. The effect on marine life such as dolphins, turtles, and saltwater crocodiles due to the dumping of plastics in the oceans and seas was discussed. According to UNDP 89 per cent of plastic litter found in marine bodies was single-use plastics. The most important recommendations made toward the “New Plastic Economy Global Commitment” were on installing more recycling units and continuous negotiations with global countries to bring all under a legally binding agreement. New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, UNEP head spoke on how the UN seeks to bind all countries into the commitment by aligning the vision and including private and government units. The UN has achieved 500 signatories now more have stepped forward after the one ocean summit. Kenya which started the plastic ban in 2007, has now progressed in pushing 19 waste management companies to be held responsible for producing and import of plastics. As far as Australia is concerned the plastics in the ocean have affected the marine species vastly and the government proposed to raise USD 800 million to invest in recycling infrastructure and encourage its university to innovate new ways to suck carbon dioxide and make plastics 100 per cent reusable. Apart from the existing countries, Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Federal government of Belgium, the Kingdom of Thailand, the government of Mexico, along with several other Brazilian and Mexican states joined the Global commitment to plastics.

Interlinking SDG-14
For the array of challenges present for the ocean in form of pollution, ocean-based economies, sustaining blue carbon, the invention of new technologies, capacity building, and ensuring finance to meet, syncing all under SDG-14 would require sincere commitment and coordinated efforts from every state, regional and international actors. Most importantly, implementation of ocean governance across the north-south is required for attaining the SDG-14 goal. Therefore, the conference mandates the use of “scientific knowledge and evidence-based policy options,” to address the challenges to ocean conservation and enforce the links with SDG -14. 

Critique 
First, the actors in the conference. Unlike the one ocean summit, the UN ocean conference involved all-tier countries, with special host status for Kenya and Portugal. Kenya’s partnership with the EU to work on its blue economy under three programmes, “Go Blue Growth” which looks into creating new jobs, and “Go Blue Environment” to ensure practices are sustainable for the coastal urban and marine environment. “Go Blue Security” to expand a sustainable livelihood and awareness amongst coastal communities shows the growing inclusiveness of the global agenda for Oceans. Apart from Kenya, the Brazilian government presented its initiative on conducting a survey to look into people’s direct engagement with the Ocean which could serve as a model to analyze the community involvement and its impact on the oceans. Africa’s Union Commission co-organized an event as part of the conference on Africa’s sustainable blue economy highlighting the dependency of 38 AU member states who are coastal or island and how their marine resource are affected by anthropogenic sources. By the end of the event, AU proposed modernizing traditional ocean sectors, utilizing its blue resources to boost its economy through partnership, and aiming to establish Africa’s Ocean agenda. Therefore, unlike the other global events, the need to ensure the health of the ocean of tier three countries was prioritized.

Second, aquaculture is not a sustainable option. To prevent overfishing and to protect the marine species, the conference recommended the practice of offshore farming and aquaculture as sustainable ways of producing fish for human consumption. Although such methods help beat the increasing food demands of the growing population, when it comes to marine conservation, the depth of such farms, the foreign matters released into the waters, the increase in marine traffic, and to supply of feed for the farmed fishes threatens the environment and the species present in the farm zone. 

Third, deep-sea mining is a threat and not a benefit to the ocean. The ocean-based economies see the extraction of mineral deposits through deep-sea mining and seabed mining as innovative areas for boosting their economies. Such mineral extractions which are rich in copper, zinc, gold, iron, and cobalt are allowed under the regulations of the International Seabed Authority. But the extraction is a rigorous process and involves high-end machines, the affordability factor might not be in favor for LDC’s and SIDS. Apart from the financial limitation, the extent of damage caused to the sea bed and undiscovered marine species is still unknown. Therefore, complete threat analysis of the consequence of such deep ocean drilling and experiments must be carried ahead. Especially the ocean-dependent economies must step with caution as the environmental impact can cost the economy more than investment.
 

Print

Bookmark