The importance of the coasts and the oceans to human life is undisputable. Humans have inhabited the coasts for millennia, with several coastal communities around the world having a deep sense of history and intimate cultural relationship with the coasts and oceans. These resources are vital for our livelihood, nutrition and overall health of our planet mother earth.
Of late, the concept of “Blue Economy” as a growth model, pushed by leading global organisations and international financial institutions, has been adopted by the nation-states across the world using ocean eco-system and coastal eco-system to promote economic growth. The blue economy has diverse components, including established traditional ocean industries such as fisheries, tourism, and maritime transport, but also new and emerging activities, such as offshore renewable energy, aquaculture, seabed extractive activities, and marine biotechnology and bio-prospecting.
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