The Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) is a veritable constitution of the oceans that was negotiated with the overarching objective of protecting the “common heritage of mankind”. While the primary goal of developing countries was to protect their economic interests by seeking maritime areas with exclusive jurisdiction, the LOSC has a significant role in furthering maritime security cooperation among countries. The universally accepted trait of international cooperation in maritime security efforts requires a commonality of perception of threats and the legally acceptable ways in which they may be mitigated. In order to develop meaningful cooperative endeavours in maritime security, it is essential for India to develop a domestic legislative framework that supports its maritime security demands and promotes its standing as an upholder of the international order.
The world is facing today a global population explosion that is already straining the land-extracted resources, leading to countries turning to their ocean floors and waters where huge discoveries are shedding light on further hydrocarbon reserves, poly-metallic nodules and biological resources, a major breakthrough in fields like the medical and energy, to say the least. The need to exploit and manage these resources is greater than ever, but far from being evident when maritime claims overlap. This article aims at studying the complexity of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) regime and highlighting the interim solutions mechanisms proposed by this regime when EEZ claims overlap, in order to show how UNCLOS was one big step ahead of rising maritime disputes, whilst reflecting the Parties’ willingness to secure a fast and peaceful way towards exploiting and managing resources.
This article looks at the potential of Bangladesh in India’s maritime strategy in the Bay of Bengal, in light of the shifting focus on the emergent Indo-Pacific. It argues that India’s maritime strategy in the Bay of Bengal is a driver of its wider engagement in the emerging Indo-Pacific. Therefore, engaging Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal is strategically imperative for India. However, this requires New Delhi to deepen and expand its strategic convergences with Bangladesh and ensure that Dhaka warms up to the idea of an emergent Indo-Pacific that might even prompt geopolitical and geo-strategic competition with China.
Seaports have evolved with changing technologies to ensure the handling of close to 80 per cent of global trade by volume and 70 per cent by value. As the ports have grown across the world, unabated pollution from numerous activities of ships, ports, industries, and infrastructure development has forced countries to focus on safe, efficient, and sustainable ports by focusing on community development to achieve cleaner harbours, skies, and soil. An effort of the Government of India for major Indian ports in this direction is Project Green Ports. Though the project was initiated in 2016, there is little update available about the project. It is to fill this gap that the article discusses the progress of the major Indian ports towards becoming green ports. In doing so, the article analyses the efforts made and the existing shortcomings to answer whether the Indian ports are on the right track to becoming green ports.
