Covering around 70% of the Earth’s surface, Ocean is the planet’s largest biosphere and is home to around 80% of all kinds of lives. It generates 50% of the oxygen, absorbs 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions and captures 90% of the additional heat generated from different sources. Clearly, it is a vital buffer against the evil impacts of climate change. The Ocean produces food, jobs, minerals and energy resources for humanity to survive and thrive.
Climate Change has adversely affected the temperatures across the globe with intense heatwaves gradually changing weather patterns and disrupting the fine balance of beautiful nature. Warming temperatures pose a number of risks to human and all other forms of life on the earth in the form of frequent droughts, heat waves, storms, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans.
As the world looks to find solutions to this rising problem, The UN Ocean Conference promises to be an answer. The Conference, being held from June 27 to July 1, 2022, recognises the fact that oceans are critical to combat climate change, boost economic growth and reduce biodiversity loss across the globe. It brings up a unique opportunity to boost collective efforts and find science-based solutions to effectively address the challenges of Climate Change.
Human acts of thoughtless exploitation pose unprecedented threats to the oceans, therefore the UN has set targets of ‘Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water’ that emphasize a lot on preserving and protecting it.
To preserve lives on land & below the water, the Ocean conference addresses some of the most defining issues of our time like climate change, food insecurity, diseases, pandemics, diminishing biodiversity, economic inequality, conflicts and strife. The conference also stresses the need for an integrated, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach, as well as enhanced cooperation, coordination and policy coherence at all levels. It emphasizes the critical importance of effective partnerships enabling collective action and reaffirms the commitment to the implementation of Goal 14 with the full participation of all relevant stakeholders.
Solutions for a sustainably managed ocean involve green technology and innovative uses of marine resources, which also include addressing the threats to health, ecology, economy and governance of the ocean such as acidification, marine litter and pollution, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and the loss of habitats and biodiversity. Hence, the conference calls upon all stakeholders to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Co-hosted by Kenya and Portugal, the Ocean conference comes at a critical time when the world seeks to address many of the deep-rooted problems of our societies laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires major structural transformations and common shared solutions. More than 130 countries are participating in the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon from the 27th of June to the 1st of July 2022. Heads of Government with leaders from the private sector, the scientific community and other partners are trying to chart out a new pathway that would ensure the protection and conservation of the ocean and its resources. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also taken a lead in these global endeavours.
The strategic, economic, geopolitical and resource-rich significance of the Indian Ocean occupies a center-stage in a century that has seen trade, multilateralism and security outweighing all other areas of concern. The resource-filled oceanic depths, bare and untapped, are like a candy to the world, that has exhausted almost all the land and atmosperic resources and is left with no fruits hanging low enough. Indian ocean, particularly, is often at the center of discussion across the globe, as it is here that some of the most important trade routes of the 21st century make their way into. And over the past few years, India has rightly been able to guard its part of the high waters with responsible patrolling, new maritime and strategic policies, rollout of ambitious missions to explore sea resources, strengthening of maritime security setup and forces at its coasts and ports, etc., all garnished with its strong foreign diplomacy, collaborations and dialogue.
India recently launched its ambitious First manned ocean Mission ‘Samudrayan’, for which, a deep-submergence vehicle called Matsya 6000 is being indigenously developed in the country. With the launch of this Unique Ocean Mission, India joins the elite club of nations such as the USA, Russia, Japan, France, and China to have such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. Not only has this opened a new chapter for India to explore ocean resources for drinking water, clean energy, but it has also marked India as one of the leading crusaders of Blue economy.
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