#CPPR Webinar on CPPR Webinar on India’s Presidency and the Agenda of Blue Economy in G20
Date: 10th November, 2022 | Time: 5 PM IST | Platform: Zoom
CONCEPT NOTE
Background: As per the World Bank, the blue economy is defined as the sustainable utilisation of oceanic resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and employment, moreover prioritising the preservation of the health and wellbeing of the ocean ecosystem. The G20 accounts for over 80% of global GDP, with the forum making up around 45% of the world’s coastlines, where over 21% of its exclusive economic zones exist as regions of immense prominence within the global arena. Although this can be said, challenges pertaining to marine fisheries, offshore oil and gas, climate threats, seabed mining, pollution, marine litter and debris have led to the increased depletion of ocean health and marine resources where there is an urgent call for a united framework to target the transition into a universal blue economy to amplify sustainable economic growth within the G20.
As the current G20 2022 president and burgeoning archipelago, Indonesia’s G20 efforts seeks to address blue carbon, marine waste, alongside the blue economy, where it has also called for the initiatives of other G20 nations, while looking to enhance the role of blue economy within public and foreign policy agendas. Here, the blue economy is seen to double by 2030 to reach 3 trillion USD, where there is an emphasis on conservation and maritime sustainability. Additionally, India, the following G20 leader, has promulgated its efforts into publishing the Blue Economic vision, 2025 via the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry- looking into the requirement for multifaceted policies that are not limited to maritime agendas, but aim to target food security, poverty, unemployment rates, climate resilience, climate diplomacy and amplify socioeconomic growth. Although G20 nations carry importance for connecting the blue economy to economic growth within the region; ecological scarcities, inefficient planning and implementation, lack of resources, sustainable finance and more contribute to the various challenges pertaining to the hampering of blue and economic growth.
Due to the recent trends of a looming climate crisis, the exhaustion of marine resources and coastal deterioration alongside a recovering world economy within the post pandemic age, the G20 forum is expected to target the convergence of economic growth and the blue economy. Within this context, the following questions are required to be examined in detail:
Speaker : Niranjan Marjani
Mr. Marjani is an Independent Political Analyst and Researcher based in Vadodara, India specialising in international relations and geopolitics. His areas of work are India’s foreign policy, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Indo-Pacific Region, Central Asia and Middle East. He contributes articles to Indian and international publications and think tanks. He is a Consulting Editor with The Kootneeti Español, a New Delhi-based magazine on international relations published in Spanish. He also offers consultation as a political risk analyst to Indian and foreign corporate entities.
Moderator : Sharon Susan Koshy
Ms. Koshy is a Research Associate at Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR). She completed her Masters in IR and Political Science from Central University of Kerala, and MPhil in Political Science from the University of Hyderabad. For her MPhil thesis, she explored the themes of state and feminist negotiations in post-Arab Spring Egypt. Sharon had also secured the UGC-Junior Research Fellowship during her research period in Hyderabad and Chennai. Her academic interests pertain to IR theory, gender politics, refugee studies, intersectionality, and area studies of South Asia, West Asia and North Africa, and Indo Pacific.
