Union Budget 2024-25: New initiative to boost Blue Economy 2.0 announced

The interim budget speech delivered by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 provided a boost to Blue Economy 2.0 with the announcement of a new scheme “for restoration and adaptation measures, coastal aquaculture, and mariculture with an integrated and multi-sectoral approach”.

The Union minister, however, refrained from revealing specific details regarding the budget allocation for the scheme or the activities it would entail.

While this development is positive for the 14 million people engaged in fisheries and allied activities along India’s expansive 7,500 km coastline (encompassing both mainland and islands) in terms of livelihoods and adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change, concerns persist regarding potential maladaptation resulting from misguided adaptation measures.

Maladaptation, defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as “changes in natural or human systems that inadvertently increase vulnerability to climate stimuli,” denotes an inadvertent increase in the impacts of climate change on communities.

The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) released in March 2023 highlighted an increased incidence of maladaptation in various sectors and regions.

Many such adaptation measures have been taken along India’s coasts. These include the relocation of villages affected by coastal erosion, coast protection through structures like geosynthetic tubes, and mangrove restoration. However, many of these measures, particularly along the Odisha coast, have proven ineffective in reducing the vulnerability of coastal populations and biodiversity to the impacts of sea-level rise, extreme sea-level events and cyclones.

For example, the installation of geosynthetic tubes in Odisha’s Pentha village led to coastal erosion from beaches in both the south and north of the village, putting people staying close to them at risk during storm surges of cyclones and extreme sea-level events.

Instead, effective adaptation measures such as the cultivation of indigenous seaweeds, deployment of artificial reefs, and stabilisation of beach sand dunes should be prioritised for both adaptation needs and mitigation measures. These approaches can contribute to protecting coasts against erosion and providing livelihoods to local communities.

The budget announcement regarding this aspect of aquaculture was warmly received. According to Dinabandhu Sahoo, a seaweed researcher and senior professor at the University of Delhi, aquaculture in India is predominantly focused on fish, prawn, and other aquatic animals.

To address environmental concerns, Sahoo emphasises the cultivation of selected indigenous seaweed species using scientific methods in suitable parts of the Indian Coast to remove carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and phosphorus from the marine ecosystem.

Seaweeds, besides their environmental benefits, can serve as a valuable source of proteins, with extracted proteins finding applications in cosmetics production.

Sahoo highlights the need for awareness and intervention from various stakeholders due to the relatively new practice of seaweed cultivation in India.

In contrast to past practices that involved cultivating invasive seaweed species, such as Kappaphycus alvarezii, which harmed marine ecosystems, Sahoo has successfully experimented with cultivating indigenous seaweeds like Gracilaria verrucosa and Enteromorpha intestinalis in the Chilika lake of Odisha. 

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