Context

• India at the recently concluded high-level UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, assured the world community that it is committed to protecting at least 30 per cent of her lands, waters and oceans, and thus adhere to its commitment of 30X30 by 2030 in a mission mode.

About 30×30 target

• The 30×30 target implies protection of at least 30 % the of world’s land and ocean by 2030.
• It is a global target that aims to halt the accelerating loss of species and protect vital ecosystems that are the source of our economic security.
• High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People has been formed in 2021 to promote an international agreement on 30×30 target.
• Recently, India officially joined the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People.

New announcements

• Coastal clean-up drive: Barely a week after the UN Ocean Conference, India announced that it will undertake a massive coastal clean-up drive that will cover 75 beaches across the country
• Timeline: A 75-day-long awareness campaign, “Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar” has been launched on July 5 and will culminate on International Coastal Clean-up Day on September 17.
• Technology: A mobile app, “Eco Mitram”, has been launched to spread awareness about the campaign and facilitate the registration of volunteers and there will be 75 volunteers for every kilometre of the coastline.
• Target: The target of the drive is to remove 1,500 tonnes of garbage from the coast, which will be a huge relief for marine life and the people staying in coastal areas.
  • Efforts will also be undertaken to collect scientific data and information on various matrices of marine litter.
• Significance: It will be the first-of-its-kind and possibly the world’s longest-running coastal cleanup campaign with the most number of people participating in it.
  • The participation of the common people will convey the message of “Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar” for the prosperity of not only coastal areas but other parts of the country as well.
  • Also through this campaign, a mass behavioural change among the masses will take place by raising awareness about how plastic usage is destroying our marine life.
• Implementation: The campaign will include the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Indian Coast Guard, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) etc. along with other social organisations and educational institutions.

About 2022 UN Ocean Conference

• Conference: The second UN Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, took place on 27 June – 1 July 2022, in Lisbon, Portugal.
• Outcome: It concluded with Lisbon Declaration titled ‘Our Ocean, Our Future: Call for action’ and “The State of the Ocean Report” was also launched during the event by UNESCO.
  • Recognizing a “collective failure to achieve Ocean related targets” so far, leaders renewed their commitment to take urgent action and to cooperate at all levels, to fully achieve targets.
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): The conference was aligned to SDG 14 'life below water' and stresses on the critical need for scientific knowledge and marine technology to build ocean resilience.
• Commitment: The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) aims to achieve the science we need, for the ocean we want.

Concerns

• Single-use plastics menace: The single-use plastics contribute to over 50 per cent of marine litter, as per the pan-India coastal monitoring and beach clean-up activities undertaken by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai, from 2018 to 2021.
• Survey findings: The ‘Beach Litter Survey’ has further revealed that the maximum litter accumulation occurs on the backshore than in the inter-tidal zone. Moreover, urban beaches have higher accumulation rates than rural beaches.
  • Samples from coastal water, sediment, beach, and biota were analysed for micro/meso/macro plastics pollution.
• Microplastics concentration: An increase in the abundance of microplastics was observed along India’s east coast during the monsoon. Also the stations closer to the river mouth in particular had higher numbers of microplastic concentrations.
• Major source of litter: Several other studies have highlighted the harmful effects of litter, especially plastics, on marine biodiversity, ecosystems, fisheries, human health and the economy. Usually, waste from land-based sources makes up the major share of marine litter.

More Eco-friendly Indian initiatives

• New solutions: India also offered to provide science and innovation-based solutions for the implementation of SDG-Goal 14 through partnerships and environmentally-friendly solutions at the World Ocean Summit.
• Clarion call: Indian PM in 2019 Republic Day address also requested start-ups, technicians and entrepreneurs to see what could be done to recycle single use plastic and at the same time, he urged the people to promote jute and cloth bags.
• Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 : In line with the clarion to phase out single-use plastic items by 2022, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 and announced that India will ban the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single-use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential, across the country from July 1,2022.
• India- Norway Ocean Dialogue: In 2019, the Indian and Norwegian governments agreed to work more closely on oceans by signing a MoU and establishing the India-Norway Ocean Dialogue.
• India’s Deep Ocean Mission: It is a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.
• Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI): It is an open, non-treaty based initiative by India for countries to work together for cooperative and collaborative solutions to common challenges in the region.

Aligning with international conventions

• High Ambition Coalition : India became a part of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, which was initiated at the “One Planet Summit” in Paris in January 2021, to promote an international agreement aimed at protecting at least 30 per cent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030.
• UN campaign: India is also a signatory of the UN “Coastal Clean Seas” campaign, and has undertaken activities that have direct relevance to the “Swachh Bharat” vision to prevent pollution from both land-based and offshore activities, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 14.
• SDG Target: Its target 14.1 seeks to “prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution” by 2025.
• International day: The “International Coastal Cleanup Day” is observed globally on the third Saturday of September, every year.
• GloLitter Partnerships Project: It is launched by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UNs (FAO) to prevent and reduce marine plastic litter from shipping and fisheries.