Coastal areas are considered the wealthiest places because they provide a variety of opportunities and services. Countries, like the US, European Union, China, and Bangladesh are shifting their traditional land-based socio-economic activities toward coastal and marine resources.
Oceans, the single largest natural assets on the earth, serve as the highway for some 90 percent of internationally traded goods through the shipping sector. They provide millions of jobs in aquaculture, fisheries, shipping, tourism, energy production, and other sectors. According to the World Bank, the ocean industry is a huge sector worth an estimated $1.5 trillion a year.
As for terrestrial ecosystems, the coastal and marine ecosystems can provide various services to humanity, if governed and managed sustainably. Coastal countries have adopted and implemented various methods in their coastal and marine regions to achieve sustainable development goals. They are broadly considered as integrated management tools to conserve marine ecosystems, promote socio-economic activities, and weigh the existing policy frameworks of a country, to determine extent of their sustainable socio-economic development.
For the achievement of blue economy goals, the coastal countries have divided their coastal and marine areas into social, economic, and ecological categories that are based on scientific evidences to reduce socio-ecological conflicts. Thus, evidence-based scientific information has helped them to substitute new institutional arrangements, improve existing collaboration, facilitate the development of social capital, and expand the governing network of countries in a specified area.
The coastal zone of Pakistan is divided into two geographical locations: Balochistan and Sindh. Pakistan has a 1,050km long coastline, whereas its maritime zone, including the continental shelf, is extended from 200 nautical miles (NM) to 350 NM to cover an area of 290,000 km2 after receiving approval from the United Nations Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf.
By setting broader goals regarding zoning under blue economy framework, the federal government of Pakistan should take responsibility in leading and assessing governments at the provincial and local levels to determine which type of zoning should be adopted within their respective regions
One of the most prominent features of Pakistan’s coast is the Indus Delta, which encompasses 41,440 square kilometres. The dense population of mangrove forest is found along the Sindh Indus delta, covering an area of 600,000 hectares, which makes 95 percent of the total mangrove population of the country.
In Pakistan, the workings of government agencies and their administrative systems for governing coastal and marine areas are always contradictory. The government applies the top-down approach in implementing policies mainly to exploit the natural resources available in coastal and marine areas. It has adopted a sector-based management approach in governing coastal and marine areas, whereas several federal and provincial entities have been given the authority to perform their economic and management activities separately. The overlapping of activities and undefined policies create conflicts among groups and degrade the ecological functions of coastal and marine areas, which in turn directly and indirectly affect the livelihoods of local coastal dwellers.
The country also lacks a statutory arrangement that should support the integrated management approach to rationally utilize coastal and marine resources. However, national-level organizations have statutory duties at the coastal and marine environment that are generally driven by national legislation. Such duties are concentrated on natural resources and divert the priorities away from the real stakeholders in the utilization and management of resources.
For the implementation of the blue economy along the coastal and marine areas, the Pakistan government should conduct a nationwide survey to collect relevant primary and secondary data. The survey can be conducted with the support of expert groups, including marine researchers, marine engineers, economists, sociologists, lawyers, policy makers, and coastal and marine planners and developers. The aim of this survey would be to obtain a wide range of baseline information about the existing conditions of Pakistan’s coastal and marine areas similar to China.
The government of China conducted a survey in 1984 and covered all sea areas under national jurisdiction, including internal waters, territorial waters and contiguous zones. The primary and secondary information pertaining to economically, socially, geologically, and biologically important coastal and marine areas were gathered. The collected information simplified the task of the Chinese government and planners in allocating the management of special sea areas based on their natural characteristics.
The division of coastal and marine areas will help government-level stakeholders to conduct socio-economic and ecological conservation practices based on needs of an area. It will provide coastal and marine planners and decision makers some ways to set broader concepts about the ocean context, in which spatial areas are designated for the purpose of ecological conservation, sustainable utilization and smooth operation of socio-economic activities.
Various socio-economic facilities and regulatory measures can also be implemented in these zones based on their demographic and geopolitical conditions. The majority of Pakistan’s coastal population is directly and indirectly linked with fishery industries, thereby increasing pressure on marine fishery resources. By setting broader goals regarding zoning under blue economy framework, the federal government of Pakistan should take responsibility in leading and assessing governments at the provincial and local levels to determine which type of zoning should be adopted within their respective regions.