Blue-green growth needs science and socioeconomic intelligence
It is important to spend time and money on scientific planning and adopt incentives to prioritise conservation over the destruction of natural resources.
In her 2023-24 Union Budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced two schemes to protect and conserve India’s mangroves and wetlands.
First, the Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) will fund mangrove plantations along India’s 7,516 km coastline. The second one, Amrit Dharohar, will focus on protecting wetlands, which sustain aquatic biodiversity. India is home to the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem, the Sundarbans, which lies on the delta of the Bay of Bengal and is the biggest Ramsar Site in the country and among the top UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The common purpose of both schemes is to enhance carbon stock while building climate-resilient ecosystems leading to multiple benefits for local communities. Mangroves and wetlands act as significant sinks of blue carbon, and the interventions will contribute to India’s climate goal of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030 while promoting inclusive blue-green growth.
All these benefits, however, will not come easy, given the conventional pressures to exploit ecological resources rather than preserve them. Experiences in India and other countries show that an amalgam of science, community involvement, and appropriate incentives are required to achieve conservation efforts.
Given the limited resources, prioritising areas for mangrove plantation and wetlands conservation is critical.
Three key indicators may be used for this purpose.
One, is the level of climate vulnerability – storm surges, rising sea-level, floods and coastal erosion.
Two, the degree of socioeconomic vulnerability – the percentage of the population below the poverty line, women-headed and landless households, percentage of socioeconomically backward families in each area.
Three, assess the potential of socioeconomic and ecological benefits from the proposed interventions. This will lead to employing scarce resources using a “value for money” approach.
For each ecological landscape, a key strategy will be community mobilisation and arriving at people-approved conservation plans that incorporate their socioeconomic priorities. In addition, there must be more significant incentives for conservation vis-à-vis the destruction of natural resources.
Community-level institutions must be empowered to subvert individual interests and those of the “elites” to prevent ecological degradation. A conflict-resolution mechanism will not only settle disputes but also lead to a progressive strengthening of the community spirit.
The conservation of natural resources requires a larger lens than standalone schemes. Initiatives such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Matasya Sampada Yojana, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund, rural livelihood projects, tourism plans, village development plans, and the Self-Help Group movement must be redesigned to incorporate sustainability of natural resources into their planning and implementation. Their activities must support the objectives of MISHTI and Amrit Dharohar.
The first step under the two schemes should be to develop a specific adaptive spatial plan and natural resource management strategy for each coastal stretch and/or wetland based on science, social and economic aspects, and the local ecology, without which the results will be suboptimal.
Second, adopt a science-driven and data-based approach to identify appropriate species and sites for plantation and conservation to maximise ecological and socioeconomic benefits and reduce risks from natural disasters and the climate crisis.
Third, select appropriate populations for the desired benefits based on socioeconomic demographics to achieve higher poverty alleviation and accrual benefits to the poor while creating substantial community-level benefits.
Fourth, it is critical to develop the legal and regulatory mechanisms to enable communities to benefit from the participation of the private sector in conservation efforts. This will lead to ecosystem benefits and payment for ecosystem services to the local communities while carbon credits go to the private investor. Creating such a technical and financial framework will go a long way in strengthening the blue-green growth.
The first three steps must be led by the local and state government agencies with support from the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC).
The fourth step will require coordination between the MoEFCC and the Union ministry of finance. It is heartening to know that the current budget allocation of the MoEFCC has seen a 24% increase from last year’s budget.
But for India to shift towards a blue-green growth paradigm, it is important to spend time and money on scientific planning and adopt incentives to prioritise conservation over the destruction of natural resources. Only then can India achieve “national development, leading to globally transformative actions resulting in a cleaner, greener and bluer future” as envisaged by its G20 presidency agenda.
Sanjay Gupta is an independent international analyst on development issues, and Uttam Kumar Sinha works at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi and is the co-chair of the T20 Task Force on Accelerating SDGs during India’s G20 Presidency)
The views expressed are personal