Group3_A | SDG 14 : Life Below Water

Authored by: Aastha Baveja (BJ21003), Aman Sapharia (BJ21009), Kush Kanwar (BJ21029), Nivek A V (BJ21036), Rahul Dutt Mohla (BJ21043), Shivi Kaya (BJ21050), Swati Kamath (BJ21057)

Introduction

UN Secretary-General Mr Antonio Guterres, in the UN Ocean Conference 2017, stated: "Sea has a special relationship with us. It keeps us alive. But that relationship is now under threat as never before. Pollution, overfishing combined with effects of climate change are severely damaging the health of our oceans." ^[1]

Peter Thomson, president of the UN General assembly, echoed the statement in his speech, "If we aspire a secure future for our species on this planet, we have to act now on the health of our oceans and on climate change" ^[2]

The above statements show the catastrophic damage that has happened to our oceans and marine life and the disastrous consequences it could lead to. Given this grave situation, an immediate, coordinated, and meticulous need was felt to save our oceans. UN SDG 14 is designed with the aim to conserve and sustainably use the world's oceans, seas, and marine resources.

Figure 1: Sourced from https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14#:~:text=Goal%2014.,portions%20of%20the%20world's%20oceans

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched in 2015, are a group of 17 interconnected global goals conceived to serve as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone. 10 targets and indicators have been defined for SDG 14 by the United Nations. Targets specify the goals and metrics and track global progress towards these goals. The first seven targets are "outcome targets, and the last three are "means of achieving" targets.

Figure 2: Sourced from http://aslamsaja.com/sustainable-development-goal-sdg-14-life-below-water-preserving-and-protecting-the-oceans-and-seas-and-the-life-within-them-is-a-vital-task-for-engineers/

Relevance of SDG 14 in the Indian context

With a coastline extending more than 7,500 kilometres, marine fisheries potential in India is estimated at an annual harvestable value of 4.412 million metric tonnes. Marine fisheries contribute to the economic wealth to the tune of Rs. 65,000 crore each year. India contributes 7.7 per cent to global fish production (both maritime and riverine), with the sector contributing 1.07 per cent of the GDP and 5.23 per cent of the agricultural GDP.

Around 120 species of marine mammals exist, and a fourth of these are found in India and adjacent countries.

Figure 3: Sourced from https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-14/

NITI Aayog, India's policy think-tank, has been assigned the task to ensure that national goals are in concurrence with SDGs. Ministry of earth sciences (MoES), started in 1981 as the Department of Ocean Development, is the nodal ministry in charge of SDG14. It has joined the United Nations on the "Clean Seas Programme" to develop strategies for estimating and reducing Marine Litter/Plastic in the oceans, which is also a part of SDG-14. The government also launched the National Coastal Zone management programme to ensure sustainable development of coastal areas.

The current government's vision of New India by 2030 highlighted blue economy as one of the ten core dimensions for national growth, with PM Narendra Modi stating that "To me, the blue chakra or wheel in India's national flag represents the potential of Blue revolution or the Ocean economy. That is how central the blue economy is to us".^[3]

Blue Revolution aims to enhance the economic prosperity of the country by augmenting fisheries, farmers and contributing towards food and nutritional security. The mission is to utilize the water resources for fisheries development in a sustainable manner, considering the biosecurity and environmental concerns.

MoES has come out with the Draft Blue Economy policy for India in the public domain, inviting suggestions and inputs from various stakeholders outlining the vision and strategy that the Central Government can adopt to utilize the plethora of marine resources available in the country.

Business Implications and Responses

As per a model by Deloitte in 2018, the cost of plastic pollution in oceans and floating plastic waste from inhabited coastal areas would cost $5.6-15 billion. The second cost estimated by the model is related to marine tourism: The industry is estimated to have lost revenue amounting to $0.2-2.4 billion in revenue in 2018. Mismanaged waste significantly affects the aesthetic value of coastal areas, which discourages tourists. Reduction in tourism activity is responsible for businesses closely linked to tourism facing a loss of livelihood and eventual shutdown. The third direct cost is borne by fisheries and aquaculture businesses, whose revenues are plummeting, reaching an estimated loss to the tune of $0.11-2 billion in 2018.

The presence of plastic debris in oceans has a negative effect on marine biodiversity. This effect is not limited to the local ecosystems and the food chain but also harms the fishery reserves, which is typically the primary source of sustenance for the fisheries sector.

Figure 4: Sourced from https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/strategy/marine-plastic-pollution.html [12]

The initiatives taken by some global firms towards the fulfilment of UN SDG 14 are as under:

Amazon:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has collaborated with OCEARCH, a data-centric organization built to help scientists collect previously unattainable data about the ocean. OCEARCH works to accelerate the ocean's return to balance by uncovering the life history of the ocean's apex predators, sharks, which are vital indicators of the ocean's health. The data collected supports 180 scientists from 90 institutions worldwide who work to advance 23 distinct research projects aimed at conservation. Amazon India in 2020 achieved a significant milestone in its efforts towards sustainability by eliminating all single-use plastic in packaging originating from its 50+ fulfilment centres in India which are of great importance as plastics are one of the major reasons for marine pollution.

Bain and Company:

Through their partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Bain supported the restoration of critical oyster reefs in Australia. The Nature Conservancy also assess the level of microplastic emissions from the global apparel manufacturing supply chain. Together, Bain designed an intervention to reduce these emissions of microplastics into the environment by 90%. Through its consulting expertise, it provided strategic guidance to the Alliance to End Plastic Waste in continuation of its efforts to reduce plastic pollution in water bodies across the globe, thereby helping meet SDG goals 14.1 and 14.2.

Capgemini:

The launch of Capgemini Blue Challenge has placed seaweed at the centre of the booming blue economy by collaboration with BioMarine, a global business community that fosters the development of marine bioresources to conserve seaweed and unlock its immense economic potential. Capgemini has also developed an intelligent data solution which is designed to accurately identify sperm whales using computer vision for image processing. It uses machine learning to analyse thousands of photos of sperm whales and identifies matches of the individual whales, helping scientists to track migration routes, look at the social structure of the sperm whale groups, and protect the whales' natural habitats.

Google:

By leveraging Google Cloud Platform, machine learning, and Earth Engine, Google created the first global view of the world's industrial fishing fleet and made it available to the public for free. It has helped track illegal fishing over 1.4 billion square miles on the Earth. The creation and publicly sharing of map visualizations, data and analysis tools by Global Fishing Watch, created by Google in collaboration with Oceana and Skytruth, has enabled scientific research to drive a transformation in how the ocean is managed. This has helped in meeting 14.4,14-A, and 14-C targets.

Walmart:

Walmart has a goal that by 2025, all Walmart U.S, Canada, Mexico, and Central America suppliers of farmed and wild-caught seafood (fresh and frozen) will source from fisheries that are third-party certified as sustainable, actively working toward certification, or engaged in fishery improvement projects. As of FY2021, the company has achieved this goal for all US stores and is also taking rapid strides in other regions as well. Walmart held a Tuna Summit in January 2020, engaging with its merchants, suppliers and their supply chain stakeholders to discuss shelf-stable tuna policy and its aspirations to accelerate seafood sustainability by sharing goals, thereby contributing to SDG target 14.4.

Analysis

The awareness around how externalities affect the ocean and marine life has gained pace over the years thanks to numerous campaigns, documentaries, and other media. However, even today, 80% of all marine debris is plastic, with over 14 million tons of plastic being dumped into the ocean as waste per year. This has a multiplying effect on the ecology and food chain.

While firms do their part in conserving the aquatic life across India, we still see rivers, including Ganga and Yamuna, which are considered holy according to the Hindu culture, being polluted by industrial waste. This is an unacceptable phenomenon that has been going on for some time now. The amount of chemicals released into the water bodies by industries makes them uninhabitable to marine and aquatic life due to the reduction in oxygen levels it causes. This fish, if consumed by humans, can prove deadly as well. People who stay near these riverbanks and cannot afford a different source of clean water often end up using the polluted water for their daily needs, making them sick and even bedridden for life.

The recent steep price hike due to the unavailability of hilsa, which was, in turn, caused due by its overfishing, indicates that it is high time that the Indian government steps in, especially in promoting sustainable fishing practices not just in Bengal (a similar instance occurred in Kerala in the case of the sardine fish family) but across the country.

The central government has come up with various projects like the Sagaramala project (Blue Revolution), which aims to improve the country's state of ports and coastlines. The Indian government has also undertaken the national plan to conserve aquatic ecosystems, aiming to conserve marine ecosystems in the Indian subcontinent.

Way Forward

Many ocean-related projects, including capacity-building, are hampered by a lack of sufficient long-term funding. It is high time that additional funding is directed towards capacity-building. Due to the lack of resources, small island countries and least developed countries confront significant challenges in managing maritime spaces. Innovative techniques and effective partnerships will definitely help in solving some of these challenges.

The First Integrated Global Marine Assessment showed us how a General Assembly-led initiative could be used to strengthen the science-policy interface while ensuring that scientific knowledge is turned into effective policies for effective ocean management. Therefore, more funds should be allotted to marine scientific research and for accurate data collection from the oceans and seas.

Specifically, in the Indian context, the central government should impose a proper tax mechanism such that the price of materials like plastic includes not only the cost incurred to the firms manufacturing it but also the cost of suffering caused to the society as a whole because of its creation. This way, people would be forced to buy less of those polluting materials since the price might not seem attractive anymore.

Various national and global projects are being launched worldwide to harness the Blue Economy. Dedicated national ocean strategies have been formed by countries such as the US, UK, Brazil, Australia, Russia, and Norway, with measurable objectives and budgetary provisions. At the federal and state levels, countries such as Australia and Canada have implemented legislations and constructed hierarchical structures to ensure that Blue Economy targets are being tracked and progress is being made. India is among the top nations that have and can utilise the immense potential of its scientific and research scholars and should come up with policies like the ones being implemented elsewhere.

To curb the pollution of marine and aquatic life, India should consider coming up with policies like Extended Producer Responsibility so that the polluting firms are forced to do their part or pay hefty penalties. Also, firms, the government and research institutions should collaborate effectively such that the products are designed minimising the use of microplastics which most often than not ends up in the oceans. The central government should also make maximum utilisation of institutions like the Department of Ocean Development.

There are numerous start-ups with ideas to clean up oceans and seas from pollutants even before emissions reach the marine parts. The government should try and collaborate with such budding organisations without any stigma and start installing such devices without any delay.

The right time to begin taking action was yesterday, and we have to step up the game at the very moment.

Reference

1. https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2017-06-05/secretary-generals-opening- remarks-ocean-conference-delivered

2. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/06/un-secretary-general-guterres-says-worlds-oceans-are-facing-unprecedented-threat.html

3. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/for-the-record-to-me-the-blue-chakra-or-wheel-in-indias-flag-represents-the-potential-of-the-blue-revolution-or-the-ocean-economy/

4. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/oceans/

5. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14#:~:text=Goal%2014.,portions%20of%20the%20world's%20oceans

6. https://sdg-tracker.org/oceans

7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Ocean_Conference

8. https://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals/sdg-14/#:~:text=India%20and%20Goal%2014&text=To%20conserve%20marine%20ecosystems%2C%20the,area%20of%20focus%20for%20India.

9. https://ggiindia.in/goal-14-life-below-water/

10. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/water/un-ocean-conference-a-roadmap-towards-sustainable-use-of-oceans-58019