Dr. Abdullahel Bari :
COVID-19 has inflicted the mankind unbearable miseries and sorrows, colossal losses of lives, fall of output and strains on resources. The blue economy may be an answer, at least partially. It has received serious consideration in Bangladesh after her securing the legitimate portion of the sea area of 207,000 square kilometres. The ocean and the sea, apart from forming 95% of the biosphere and holding 47.7 billion cft of waters, contain unlimited wealth and offer scope for extraction, generation of resources and employments to enrich the mankind as a whole.
Bangladesh being a coastal developing state with presently around USD 1816 per capita income may get advantages like equitable access and sharing of benefits as well as receive a portion of funds required for planned investments in her blue economy endeavors to achieve the target of having per capita income of USD 2750.00 by 2025 or to reach the level of a rich nation by 2041.
It is predicted that shipbuilding and ship repair may grow by 7% per annum globally for next 15 years. By 2030 new building tonnage will be doubled of tonnage in 2015, i.e, 240.00 million CGT (Compensated Gross Tonnage). Shipping will grow at 4% out- pacing overall global predicted growth of 3.45%. A significant boost in cruising and marine tourism is expected. International tourist landings will increase to 1.8 billion from 1.4 billion of today. 43 million tourists will be added annually up to 2030. The targeted contribution is USD 200.00 billion per year. Bangladesh must develop the technology to build these ships and to enter the tourism market vigorously. In spite of depletion in fish stocks worldwide, it is estimated that the catch may reach as high as 85 million tons by 2030 and 350 fishing craft may need to be added annually to the existing fleet. A contribution of USD 100.00 billion is aimed at. At the same time, it is an urgent caution for Bangladesh that the newly obtained fishing ground must be protected from illegal fishing without any lapse.
Keeping ongoing projects progressing and planned projects of priorities in place, fund constraint may stand on the way to investment for developing the blue economy. There it is to look out to international communities, institutions, especially investors keen to nourish the environment, keep the carbon foot-prints limited and uplift the living standard of the mankind worldwide. A few organisations may even be interested with a developed technology to form joint venture to explore resources in waters of Bangladesh. This is possible under private sector or through G2G. The first global guiding framework for banks, insurers andinvestors to finance a sustainable blue economy undertaking has been adopted in 2018.
Contributions of the blue economy in 2020 exceeded USD 1.85 trillion and 36 million direct employments added globally. Further, extensive plans and programmes have been envisioned for the next 10 years up to 2030 for various activities according to blue economy principles, all sustainable, side by side discouraging unsustainable undesirable already under taken initiatives. In 2030, it is forecasted that value addition may hit USD 3.2 trillion and direct employment 43 million heads under continued present scenario. Bangladesh should undertake activities to have a bite of this cake.
Marine biotechnology is very potential to meet the increasing demand of food, nutritions for human health, environmental rehabilitation and to support the growth of green industrial sectors. In money terms, the contributions of oceans and seas using this technology is predicted to be USD 4.6 billion by 2017 which may exceed USD 10 billion by 2030. Marine biotechnology may significantly contribute in the development of new antibiotics and other biomedical products, such as, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal as well as nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals. It is a novel source of supply of enzymes and polymers. Bangladesh may concentrate in this field and examine if the ocean can be a source of raw materials, which are being imported at present, for her fast growing pharmaceutical sector.
Deep-sea mining focuses specially on three minerals, i.e, manganese modules, cobalt- rich ferromanganese and sea floor massive quantity of sulphide. The deep sea mud is of some interest for REE (Rare Earth Elements). A few licenses for exploration of minerals have already been issued, 26 applications are pending and 6 expired in 2016. However, Bangladesh may keep these mining possibilities at the end of hands although she lacks mineral reserves. It is observed that mineral resources which are available at the disposal of the mankind presently may adequately meet the expected near future growing demand over time.
It is to be noted with concerns that the formation of legal frames and rules is inadequate to keep pace with the fast growing blue economy, which may result in detrimental impact on the ocean and the sea as well as on the environment. However, it is under rigorous process to quickly mitigate these weaknesses. Bangladesh should have an R & D Division in the Ministry of Education or an Institution outside the Ministry but under its control dedicated to researches and studies on the blue economy.
(Dr. Abdullahel Bari, Chairman, Ananda Group, President, Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh)
