Dr. Zafar Ullah Jattak
The oceans, covering 70% of the Earth’s surface, present a variety of opportunities for coastal nations to bolster their economies and empower coastal communities. Technological advancements in marine sciences have enabled humans to extract the hidden resources within coastal waters, leading countries to adopt various methodological approaches for the sustainable exploitation of ocean resources.
The concept of the blue economy is relatively new to many nations and is an emerging trend in both developed and developing countries.
It aims to promote the sustainable utilization of coastal and marine natural resources without compromising the needs of future generations. Prior to embracing the concept of the blue economy, nations have implemented marine spatial planning as a strategic management plan to address issues associated with coastal and marine areas. Marine spatial planning assists nations in delineating coastal and marine areas based on their natural resource carrying capacity.
This, in turn, opens avenues for blue economy development opportunities tailored to the socio-economic activities required by the demographic and geographic characteristics of each area.
Furthermore, coastal nations have subdivided their coastal and marine areas into different functional zones based on the specific needs of each area. For instance, China, with a coastline extending 18,000 km, has divided its coastal and marine areas into eight major zones under their marine spatial planning scheme: industrial and urban development zones, mineral and energy zones, tourism and entertainment zones, marine protection zones, special zones, reservation zones, port and navigation zones, and agriculture and fishery zones.
These zones have further been divided into 1,938 sub-zones, each playing a role in the sustainable development of the blue economy in the country.
Such zoning facilitates planners and policymakers in drafting or establishing policies tailored to the natural resource carrying capacity of each area. According to the China Blue Economy Development Report 2019, the volume of the blue economy increased by over 6.5% compared to the previous decade, reaching 8,341 million RMB in 2018, accounting for 9.3% of the country’s GDP.
On the other hand, Pakistan possesses a coastline spanning 1100 km, encompassing two provinces, Sindh and Balochistan, and holding significant living and non-living resources, lending it geo-strategic importance among South Asian countries.
Despite this, the blue economy sector’s contribution to the country’s national GDP remains low or limited. The proliferation of organizations and the repetition of practices have impeded the introduction of sea-related businesses.
The repetitive nature of activities, particularly in fisheries, has detrimentally impacted the ecological functions of marine resources. To foster sustainable blue economy development, the government of Pakistan must institute political and economic devolution in marine resources governance.
This is crucial as commercial and industrial sea-related activities require distinct management from land-based activities, necessitating specific legal and administrative frameworks to address environmental impacts and resource management. In a blue economy context, environmental consequences are more significant and encompass broader areas, thus requiring separate consideration of many externalities from those offshore.
Developing a separate list of on-shore and off-shore blue economy-related projects can facilitate more effective management of these externalities, helping to mitigate environmental conflicts. In making sustainable investments in the blue economy, the government of Pakistan must carefully consider the value of ecological services provided by the seas.
The sea plays a crucial role in regulating carbon dioxide levels in both water and air, providing oxygen, and circulating and absorbing heat. While these ecological services primarily benefit the sea itself, understanding their economic contribution to the development of the blue economy remains a complex task. Therefore, it is essential to consider the impacts of human-induced changes on the value of these ecological services before implementing business clusters as part of blue economy development strategies.
The functioning of industries within the blue economy relies heavily on the availability of these ecological services. The collapse of any ecosystem service, whether it be supporting, cultural, regulating, or provisioning, could have detrimental effects on the blue economy.
Therefore, for the smooth transition of the blue economy resources the Government of Pakistan need to adopt the marine spatial planning (MSP) as marine resources conservation and sustainable utilization development strategy.
This MSP would enable Pakistan to meet its international obligations under the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and other relevant international conventions and agreements.
MSP cannot be implemented randomly because it follows a well-considered method in a logical sequence. This has been done previously, where planners and competent authorities have developed their own MSP process or adopted other existing procedures according to the needs of their geographical region.
Indeed, the adoption of MSP in coastal and marine regions of Pakistan should analyze the current situation of the sea and prefer further development plans. MSP can effectively help to enhance and introduce the objectives of new management agreements according to the needs of the defined area. In MSP, the planner carefully considers the needs of other user groups to ensure equality and equity in sectorial representation.
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is carried out to indicate the possible effects of activity on ecosystems. Based on the EIA outcomes, MSP finalizes plans in the most efficient way so that the proposed plan has the least environmental impact and maximizes the benefits of the involved sectors and users. Furthermore, the Government of Pakistan needs to establish a regional cluster by involving all government and non-governmental stakeholders.
To bring an effective democratic process in regional clusters under the MSP scheme the Government should recognize the intricacy of the socio-spatial relationship of the community in the marine environment; improve and facilitate their meaningful involvement in the decision-making process and create more space for debate regarding the purpose of the MSP process.
To promote synergies between the cluster and the MSP process, several members of the cluster could be involved in the establishment of an MSP strategy in the country.
The establishment of the MSP process in the country could incorporate climate change, analyze its effects, and suggest a proposal.
The MSP proposal should aim to produce a dynamic strategic plan to sustain planning objectives supporting ocean resilience to climate change impacts.