Blue Economy: Pakistan’s untapped potentials
Blue economy is an emerging popular concept which revolves around safeguarding the world’s oceans and efficiently using of water resources for sustainable growth and development. The concept at its core refers to promote usage of ocean resources for economic growth, social inclusion, and the preservation of livelihoods while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of the oceans and coastal areas. It encompasses many activities including renewable energy, fisheries, maritime transport, coastal tourism, waste management, and climate change risk management. In addition, various emerging new sectors including marine chemistry, ocean engineering, ocean power and biomedicine have taken their place in the blue economy which no doubts in return creates enormous employment opportunities and wealth creation for any coastal state. World economists have estimated an asset value of $24 trillion to the ocean economy and as of now it’s delivering something between $4-500 billion each year in terms of the dividend to humanity. However, an important challenge of the Blue Economy is to comprehend and better manage the many aspects of oceanic sustainability, ranging from fisheries to ecosystem health to pollution.
Being an important maritime state in the Indian Ocean region (IOR), Pakistan is progressively apprehending the marvels of the Blue Economy. The country is blessed with over 1000 km long coastline and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covering about 240,000 Sq. Km. In addition, extension of continental shelf (50,000 Sq. Km) was also approved by United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS) in 2015. Pakistan’s maritime sector is financially and technologically intensive and requires substantial investment for building, operating and turning it into economically profitable. Its present-day maritime revenue projection stands at $183 million which is far behind our neighbors including India and Bangladesh, whose estimated projection stand at $5.6 and $6 Billion respectively. Pakistan’s coastal areas are rich in bio-productivity and bio-diversity as they provide huge breeding grounds for commercially important fisheries including carbs and shrimps with a potential resource worth of more than $2 billion annually. Despite vast fish export potential, Pakistan’s fishing sector only contributes 0.4% percent to country’s GDP however, this year this sector has witnessed a growth of 0.6%. This again signifies how little we are growing despite having immense potential in this realm which in turn is hampering our growth prospects in the long run.
Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/688791-blue-economy-pakistan-s-untapped-potentials
