Fund Allocation To Environmental Protection In Coastal Areas Low

While India aims to expand its blue economy to $131 billion by 2025, only 5.9 per cent of the Sagarmala programme’s budget is allocated to coastal community development and environmental protection

Visakhapatnam: While India aims to expand its blue economy to $131 billion by 2025, only 5.9 per cent of the Sagarmala programme’s budget is allocated to coastal community development and environmental protection. This disparity is particularly alarming given the 26 per cent increase in high-intensity cyclones in the region over the past four decades, according to National Maritime Foundation (Delhi) expert Deepannita Kundu.

While speaking at an international conference on “the Indo-Pacific in an era of changing power dynamics: economic integration and security,” jointly organised by the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India, and GITAM School of Humanities and Social Sciences here, she said that the future resilience and prosperity of the Bay of Bengal’s blue economy hinge on today’s policy choices. She further emphasised the need for a more balanced, cooperative, and ecosystem-centric approach to maritime development.

She hinted that a climate resilience index for coastal infrastructure projects is needed to provide a tool for policymakers to assess and prioritise investments and also present case studies of successful integration of economic development and environmental conservation in coastal areas. Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India Deputy Representative Robert Hsieh Bor-Huei, JNU Centre for East Asian Studies experts Dr Titli Basu, Dr Aravind Yelery, University of Hyderabad Professor PKAnamika, GITAM Economics professor Dr Mandar V Kulkarni, Prof S Sushma Raj and others participated in the programme. The conference discussed how the global balance of power is undergoing a significant transition, with its conceptual and geographic focus shifting beyond the traditional European and transatlantic centres to include emerging regions such as the Indo-Pacific.