The day 8 June marks the World Ocean Day. Triggered in 1987 by the recommendations of the Brundtland Report, the Ocean Day has emerged on the international radar, debuting in 1992 and bringing into the mainstream policy-making regulatory compliances on coral restoration, marine pollution, ocean governance, overfishing and other issues impacting marine life and sustaining the ocean that sustains our blue planet. This year’s theme is focussed on ‘sustaining what sustains us’.
The ocean is indeed called ‘blue’ for a reason. A combination of salt-water and fresh water bodies covers 71 per cent of the planet earth, giving it a unique distinctive colour. About 3 billion people around the world are impacted by and are dependent on coastal and marine resources, while nearly 40 per cent of the global population lives in coastal areas or near shifting shorelines. According to the World Bank, the Blue Economy provides 3.2 billion people with 20 per cent of their protein intake. Also, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that fisheries and allied sectors provide 600 million livelihoods each year.
While the economic reasons remain unquestioningly overwhelming, what makes the blue sector poignantly vital is its direct impact on the survival of the human species – the most intelligent yet foolishly exploitative form of life to ever inhabit a planet. Ocean is the largest natural carbon sink in the world and absorbs copious amounts of ‘green-house gas’ emissions. Oceans absorb 10-11 billion metric tonnes of carbon each year (25 per cent roughly comes from human generated activities).
After decades of debate and deliberations over ocean-related functional parameters, impact assessments and regulatory compliances, implementation methodologies and creating financial structure to help mitigate this growing threat collated with climate change, the world has a basic awareness of why it is important to protect the ocean and the incredible force of sustenance it carries. Recognising the gaps in awareness and understanding of both what is at stake and what one can do collectively or as individuals, many celebrities and philanthropists have taken ‘ocean’ as that single purpose driven paddle. From Leonardo DiCaprio to Richard Branson and Daryl Hannah to Kate Walsh, the list is long, as is their direct involvement with healing the pillared planet. Film director James Cameron spent years researching and producing Avatar 2: The Way of the Water, to share a story of the wondrous beauty and secrets the ocean holds – something we as humans, are just beginning to fathom.
India’s 7,500 km coastline is dotted by 12 major and 200 minor ports that transports 90 per cent of its trade volume, contributing about 4 per cent towards annual GDP. In addition to the Exclusive Economic Zone that aids blue industries, there are a few programmes, such as the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Samprada Yojana, Sagarmala Project and Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, aimed at reducing carbon footprint and promoting sustainable practices both in the short and long term. Last month, India hosted the second Blue Talks ahead of the UN Ocean Week jointly with France and Costa Rica, to foster ocean-related scientific collaboration. Private investment is growing in India with blue bets on seaweed, fisheries, aquaculture, and shipping. Viksit Bharat names the Ocean as one of the ten core growth areas with $100 billion envisaged as its growth volume.
It is therefore imperative for ocean awareness to be included in curricula and mainstream dialogue at so many levels for so many reasons that are directly attributed or survival as a species. Though there are over 200 aquariums and oceanariums around the world that bring tremendous awareness to ocean related matters, India has much more ground to cover in educating the public and encouraging them to engage with the wondrous beauty that it holds in its depths. There is a constant tussle between avarice and aqua sustenance, with the recent debates intensifying over the potentially $41.3 billion deep-sea mining to extract potato-sized, slow-forming, poly-metallic nodules of copper, cobalt, magnesium, nickel, zinc and silver, among others, to the great risk of disturbing tens of thousands of deep-sea species.
Ocean is indeed a complex living organism. One ocean connects us all on the one planet we call home.
The author is an India-born, Silicon Valley-based former president & CEO of the Smithsonian-affiliated Aquarium of the Bay and Sea Lion Center known for conceiving stunning Oceanariums in many countries. He also serves on the board of directors of the International Council of Museums (US) and is chief advisor, UNEP on Climate Museums.