Sustainable Future Through Blue Economy
THE WORD "Blue Economy" was first introduced in 2012 during the Rio+20 Conference of the United Nations on Sustainable Development and Growth. Due to the immense resources belonging to the seas and oceans, the term Blue Economy has been touted as a remedy for all economic woes of under developed littoral states. The concept refers to the use of all marine resources for economic benefits, while highly emphasising on environment protection and conservation.
The United Nations introduced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the year 2015 which had directly linked the Sustainable Economic Growth with Blue Economy through Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14. The World Bank defines the Blue Economy as: "Sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem."
Owing to its international obligations for SDGs, Pakistan has incorporated SDGs into its domestic development plan, which infers that Pakistan is aware of the blue economic potential.
A Blue Economy grips vast and untapped potential to drive economic growth in Pakistan. Investment in coastal and various categories of marine resources can help meet the food, transport, and energy needs of Pakistan. This is important in the context of slow economic growth, financial instability, volatility of investment, and ever-rising unemployment that Pakistan has experienced in recent years. It is time that Pakistan looks to coastal and marine resources to diversify its economy beyond traditional land-based investment avenues.
Pakistan has around 1000 km long coastline and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 240 000 sq. km with an additional continental shelf area of about 50,000 sq. km. The exclusive geostrategic position of Pakistan lends its ports a unique significance concerning maritime trade. Furthermore, the construction of Gwadar as a transit and transhipment port under CPEC has further augmented Pakistan's maritime potential as a key player in Indian Ocean Region.
Blue Economy of Pakistan offers a wide range of maritime sectors peculiar to the geostrategic and economic realities of the country. It includes conventional maritime industries, namely fisheries, coastal tourism, maritime transport, etc., and newly emerging areas of aquaculture and marine biotechnology, deep sea-bed mining, resource extraction, oceanic renewable energy, and maritime tourism. The construction and operationalisation of Gwadar Port have enhanced the scope of maritime transport in Pakistan. Noteworthy, maritime transport industries that offer great opportunities for investment in Pakistan are Port Development and Coastal Urbanisation, tourism, Shipbuilding, Ship-breaking/recycling, and Transhipment companies.
Pakistan is a lower-middle-income country, with the economy growing at less than a 05 % growth rate, whereas, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics suggests for Pakistan a potential of sustainable 8 % growth annually. Being the 5th most populous economy globally with a population growth rate of nearly 2%, Pakistan might face precarious food security challenges in the future. To cope up with the worsening situation, Pakistan's blue economic assets can be utilized to increase economic growth of the country.
The shipping industry holds paramount importance in any economy in today's globalised world as 80% of world trade is carried out through the sea. Over 90% of Pakistan's trade by volume is through the sea. Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) is the largest and the only Pakistani flag shipping company in Pakistan lifting only 10 to 11% of Pakistani cargo as it only possesses 07 oil tankers, 05 bulk carriers, which is the lowest number compared with other regional countries. This costs Pakistan a whopping $5 billion freight charges annually that is paid to foreign vessels. The concerned authority must look forward to acquiring oil tankers and bulk carrier ships in the first phase in order to save freight charges and less burden the exchequer.
The shipbreaking industry of Pakistan namely Gadani used to be one of the largest shipbreaking industries in the world during the 1970s but now it is placed at number third after India and Bangladesh. If this industry is revived back and utilized to its full potential, it can have the capacity to contribute more than $10 million to GDP annually. Another most important industry which shows great promise is coastal tourism. The tourists around the world are being attracted towards beautiful places especially the sea coasts with vast biodiversity and attractive beaches. With regards to Pakistan, the coastal tourism only contributes around $0.3 billion despite having a $4 billion potential. Another indictment for Pakistan is our ranking on the "Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report" published by the World Economic Forum, which places Pakistan at an abysmal 121st position out of 140 countries. It remains the least competitive country throughout South Asia in travel and tourism.
Moreover, Pakistan's mangrove area being the sixth largest in the world holds an annual value of about $20 million which can be extracted from mangrove dependent industry. Country's sea trade route contributes about $66.5 billion dollars to economic growth, accumulates 31% of Pakistan's GDP. Fish and seafood industry in Pakistan alone has the potential of generating the revenue of more than $1.2 billion. Such economic figures can contribute to overcome the economic instability of the country and put back the national economy on the success track. To optimally benefit from the country's maritime sector, there is a need for an integrated National Maritime Policy to effectively capitalize the ocean based dividends.
Maritime security is a paramount for the blue economy. The growth of blue economy depends upon the safe and sound environment to work within. In this regard, Pakistan Navy seems very alert and promising as it is maintaining a secure environment for the country's maritime trade. Pakistan Navy has been engaged in efforts to maintain law and order at the sea during the peace time. To counter piracy, maritime terrorism, drug trafficking, weapon smuggling and various other evils at sea, Pakistan Navy has taken dynamic initiatives including Regional Maritime Security Patrols (RMSP) to counter non-traditional threats in the Area of Responsibility (AOR). The main objective of RMSP is to maintain a threat-free environment in Pakistan's immediate and distant maritime neighbourhood so that economic, scientific and social activities at sea continues unhindered. This initiative has been set in the direction of advancing intra-regional ties through maritime multilateralism.
Besides carrying out its responsibility at home, Pakistan Navy is playing an active role in maintaining the international obligations. The Pakistan Navy assumed the Command of Maritime Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) for the 12th time. The CTF-150 is one of the three Task Forces operating within the ambit of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in the Indian Ocean Region. The objective of the CTF-150 is to counter terrorist acts and illegal activities committed by the terrorists' networks.
The above-mentioned efforts by Pakistan Navy are to secure the maritime borders and other commercial sea activities against the enemies of the state. Thus, Pakistan Navy is playing a vital role in protecting our seas and indeed, the potentials of Blue Economy cannot be extracted without a strong Navy.
To conclude, need of an hour is to formulate an effective national compliance mechanism and synergize the institutional efforts to tap the 'Blue' economic potentials of Pakistan. Moreover, CPEC is a significant platform to play a pivot role in this regard as it has already put forward plans for the activation of ocean based activities in a bid to explore the incredible maritime avenues. Pakistan should also embark upon boosting its economy while focusing on maritime infrastructure, technology for offshore resource development, a strong fisheries and marine leisure sector (tourism), environment issues etc. All the required financial and technological support should be geared up for building, operating, and making economically profitable industries. These are compelling reasons for Pakistan to endorse and internalize the concept of a Blue Economy in policy, bilateral relations as well as international transactions.