Blue economy in India is the sum total of economic activities sourced from marine resources. Fisheries, deep sea mining, and offshore oil and gas make up a large section of India’s blue economy.

The blue economy, which consists of economic activities dependent on marine resources, comprises 4.1% of India’s economy.

Significance of Blue Economy:

The global population which is expected to exceed 8 billion by 2030 will require 30% more water, 40% more energy and 50% more food. More than 40% of the world population live within 100km from the coastline, and it continues to be in the uptrend. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates the gross value added to global output from the oceans shall be ~ US$ 3.5 trillion in 2030 and shall supporting more than 40 million jobs. Considering the strategic importance of the oceans, the United Nations (UN) has allocated a total global Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of ~137 million km2, including ~ 12, 11.3,8.5 and 2.3 million km2 to France, US, Australia and India, respectively. Based on the foundations of the 2012 Rio + 20 UN Conference on sustainable development, the global community announced its commitment on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030, in which Goal 14 relates to the sustainable development of the Ocean resources by which the economic activity is in balance with the long-term capacity of the ocean ecosystems, remain resilient and healthy. The importance of sustained utilization of the ocean resources is stressed by the UN declaring 2021-2030 to be the decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Sources: Economic Times, IORA, http://site.ieee.org/indiacouncil/files/2019/10/p106-p115-2.pdf