The Indian Ocean as cradle of a new blue economy

When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was negotiated within the Seventies and early Eighties, India stood with the world’s smallest and most weak states. Alongside Pacific Island international locations, India championed the precept that the seabed past nationwide jurisdiction needs to be the “widespread heritage of mankind”. It was a exceptional second: a big growing nation aligning itself with island nations, not for benefit, however for equity.

This was not new for India. As early because the Nineteen Fifties, Jawaharlal Nehru recognised the ocean’s centrality to India’s future, declaring: “Whichever manner we flip, we’re drawn to the seas. Our future safety and prosperity are carefully linked with the liberty and the sources of the oceans.” That foresight set the stage for India’s enduring position as each a maritime nation and a maritime chief. Half a century later, the ocean faces pressures unimaginable on the time of UNCLOS. Local weather change is heating and acidifying the seas, sea ranges are rising, and unlawful and unregulated fishing is stripping marine life from the water column.

The Indian Ocean, dwelling to one-third of humanity, is already some of the climate-vulnerable basins on earth.

India now has each the chance and the accountability to play a historic management position as soon as once more. This time, the duty is to not draft regulation, however to form observe — guaranteeing that the Indian Ocean turns into not a theatre of rivalry, however a laboratory of sustainability, innovation, and resilience.

The case for a Blue Ocean technique

India’s Blue Ocean Technique ought to relaxation on three pillars: stewardship of the commons, resilience, and inclusive development.

First, stewardship. India should proceed to say that the Indian Ocean is a shared area, not a contested one. By prioritising ecosystem restoration, biodiversity safety, and sustainable fisheries, India can set the tone for cooperative administration, relatively than aggressive exploitation.

Second, resilience. Because the local weather disaster intensifies, ocean nations should give attention to adaptation and preparedness. India can lead by establishing a Regional Resilience and Ocean Innovation hub — one which strengthens ocean statement networks, improves early warning programs, and switch expertise to small island growing states and African coastal nations.

Third, inclusive development. The Indian Ocean should turn into a driver of prosperity for all littoral states. Inexperienced delivery, offshore renewable power, sustainable aquaculture, and marine biotechnology provide pathways to growth which are suitable with local weather targets. Realising this potential, nonetheless, would require sustained funding and coordinated regional motion.

It’s encouraging that the monetary tide is starting to show. On the Blue Financial system and Finance Discussion board (BEFF) held in Monaco, in June 2025, governments, growth banks and personal traders highlighted a €25 billion pipeline of present ocean investments and introduced €8.7 billion in new commitments, with near-parity between private and non-private sources. The Finance in Widespread Ocean Coalition, bringing collectively 20 public growth banks, introduced annual pledges of $7.5 billion, whereas the Growth Financial institution of Latin America doubled its blue financial system goal to $2.5 billion by 2030.

At COP30 in Belém, the Brazilian Presidency launched the One Ocean Partnership as a part of the Belém Motion Agenda, committing to mobilise $20 billion for ocean motion by 2030. These alerts matter. They show that the ocean — lengthy marginal in local weather finance — is now firmly on the worldwide agenda.

India should seize this second to channel world financing into regional priorities. An Indian Ocean Blue Fund, seeded by India and open to contributions from growth banks, philanthropy, and the non-public sector, may present the institutional structure wanted to show pledges into tasks.

Safety by means of sustainability

A lot of in the present day’s discourse on the Indian Ocean is framed by way of “Indo-Pacific technique”, naval steadiness, freedom of navigation, and safe sea lanes. These issues are professional. However they need to not obscure a extra basic actuality: ocean insecurity begins with ecosystem collapse and local weather disruption.

Unlawful, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, coral reef degradation and intensifying storm surges erode livelihoods and undermine social stability. Addressing these threats requires a shift from conventional notions of maritime safety towards safety by means of sustainability.

India’s doctrine of Safety and Progress for All within the Area (SAGAR) articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mauritius in 2015, gives an vital anchor, “We search a future for the Indian Ocean that lives as much as its title as a zone of peace, stability and prosperity,” he mentioned.

The Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard, working alongside civilian companies, can deepen regional cooperation in maritime area consciousness, catastrophe response and ecosystem monitoring – aligning safety goals with environmental stewardship. Equally vital is the story India chooses to inform. Not of rivalry, however of accountability. Not of dominance, however of stewardship. As Exterior Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has famous, India’s method to the Indian Ocean is “cooperative, consultative, and outcome-oriented,” geared toward shared prosperity and stability.

The guideline needs to be easy and resonant: “From the Indian Ocean, for the World.”

India’s historic accountability

On the Stockholm Convention in 1972, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi warned, “We don’t need to impoverish the surroundings any greater than we need to impoverish our folks.” That perception stays strikingly related.

COP30 in Belém (2025) and the G-20 Summit in Johannesburg recognised the significance of terrestrial and marine ecosystems for local weather stability, sustainable growth, and group resilience in addition to anchoring scaling up of finance and help for growing international locations, aligning with the fairness dimensions of ocean motion.

Momentum is constructing. With the outcomes of the third United Nations Ocean Convention (UNOC3) in Good, COP30 in Belém, and the entry into drive of the Biodiversity Past Nationwide Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Settlement, 2026 is shaping as much as be a pivotal yr for ocean governance. India’s readiness to ratify the BBNJ Settlement presents a chance to show how the Indian Ocean area can pioneer globally related options, from inexperienced delivery corridors and blue bonds to inclusive marine expertise switch and thoroughly ruled ocean-based carbon dioxide elimination. This agenda may additionally function a defining theme for India’s chairmanship of the Indian Ocean Rim Affiliation.

India’s historical past in ocean diplomacy provides it credibility. India’s future in ocean management provides it the accountability. The Indian Ocean, the cradle of a few of the world’s oldest civilisations, can now turn into the cradle of a brand new blue financial system, one which marries prosperity with sustainability, and resilience with justice.

The problem is obvious: to maneuver past rhetoric, to align imaginative and prescient with finance, and to construct partnerships that endure. For the world, the message is pressing: the ocean will not be a void to be crammed or a frontier to be conquered. It’s the basis of life itself.

If India leads with ambition, humility, and inclusivity, the Indian Ocean can as soon as once more show what was evident throughout UNCLOS negotiations: that even in essentially the most complicated of arenas, cooperation can prevail over battle, and solidarity over rivalry.

The time to behave is now.

Kilaparti Ramakrishna is the Director of Marine Coverage Centre and Senior Adviser to the President on Ocean and Local weather Coverage on the Woods Gap Oceanographic Establishment, the world’s largest impartial oceanographic establishment at Woods Gap, Massachusetts, U.S.