Harnessing the blue economy, India- Norway step forward to fight against Marine pollution

New Delhi, Feb 12: India- Norway shared a strong and friendly bond with each other. Furthering this relation and fighting with universal issues like Marine pollution, India-Norway on Feb 11 signed the letter of Intent establishing the India-Norway Marine Pollution initiative.

 

This initiative is the act of taking forward the India-Norway Ocean Dialogue, established during the visit of Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg to India in January 2019.

The Ministry of Environment signed this pact with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Both the governments launched the First Joint initiative under this new partnership. This initiative will combat marine pollution which is one of the fasting growing environmental concerns. In partnership, Norway and India will share experiences, expertise, and competence and will collaborate on efforts to develop clean and healthy oceans, sustainable use of ocean resources and efforts to achieve growth in the blue economy.

In the implementation of this initiative, implementing partners will seek to support local governments in realizing sustainable waste management practices, development of systems for collecting and analyzing information about sources and scope of marine pollution, efforts of improvement in private-social investment.

Support will also be directed towards beach clean-up efforts, awareness-raising campaigns and pilot project using plastic waste as fuel substitution for coal in cement production and developing frameworks for deposit schemes.

Marine pollution is a major crisis today in front of the nations with coastal line and an economy based on the ocean. Marine pollution occurs when harmful effects result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals, particles, industrial, agricultural, and residential waste, noise, or the spread of invasive organisms. Eighty percent of marine pollution comes from land. Air pollution is also a contributing factor by carrying off pesticides or dirt into the ocean. Land and air pollution have proven to be harmful to marine life and their habitats.