The living natural resources in the Indo-Pacific is taken to be one of the richest assets of the Indo-Pacific and constitutes of a prospective asset to feed the population of the Indo-Pacific region. Many livelihoods are also dependent upon these living resources of the waters. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations these resources have been approximated to have increased from 20 million metric tonnes in 1970 to that of 46 million metric tonnes in 2012. Among the various fishing nations of the world that is 14 out of 18 nations lies in the Pacific rim and is dependent on the fisheries business of this region whatsoever. Fisheries industries are a prospective means of livelihoods for various countries and for improving various domestic economies all around the world. Countries like Maldives gets 2percent of its GDP from the fisheries industries and 90% of its global export is also constituted. Aquaculture and fisheries is a vital source for food for a huge population across the world and hence protection of these resources is a significant concern as it would contribute to the future of the Indo-Pacific region to a great deal. Countries like China, Egypt, Mozambique, Malaysia, Myanmar, North Korea and so on depend a great deal on the Indo-Pacific for its main source of protein that is food. Hence fish is a great source of both human security and social welfare as a source of livelihood as well as a means of livelihood for a huge population across the globe. Across the Indo-Pacific also the littoral states have started to depend upon fisheries as a source of food and livelihood and according to Australia, the need for fisheries will double across the world by the 2050s.
Coastal regions prove to be the most vulnerable areas where the climate changes may affect and is also turning to be a havoc in terms of the global climate change in the present-day scenarios. The impact of global warming has resulted in the rising of the sea levels and increasing incidences of tropical cyclones, increasing in the sea surface temperatures and so on. Moreover, seas absorb more of the carbon dioxides which are emitted in the atmosphere because of the human activities and results in accentuation of acidification of the surface waters of the Indo-Pacific. Climate change also has direct connection to the human interference of the seas whereby there is greater destruction of habitats, overfishing, pollution of seas. The Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific are already considered to be one of the most highly impacted marine ecosystems on the globe. These pressures on the marine ecosystem may have adverse effects and each stressor may individually add on to the negative impacts on the seas and may expose these regions to future instabilities and risks. These may hugely impact the human population which directly and indirectly depend upon these waterbodies for their foods and livelihoods in a massive way. If we talk about the Indo-Pacific region there will be a serious impact on the population who depend on the food, livelihood and also for the countries whose economy is more or less dependent upon the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean respectively. Hence the sustainability and protection of the marine ecosystem and the blue economy is of utmost priority in contemporary times. Along the coastlines the Indo-Pacific countries will suffer huge incidences of storms and tropical cyclones because of the climate changes across the globe. These changes in climate is taken to have direct consequences on the littoral states and also have impact on the fisheries resources and which in turn will affect the fisheries infrastructure to a great deal in the Indian Ocean region and also the Western Pacific region as well. The increasing emissions of the greenhouse gases are also having adverse effects on the oceanic bodies of the world. This in a greater way pollutes the oceans and also have adverse health effects on the human population because of the harmful gases being emitted. These greenhouse gases are taken to adversely affect the habitat of the ocean and also interfere with the natural species reproduction in the region. “Economically, ongoing climate change risks substantial harm to world fisheries. Estimates indicate global warming could cut the value of world catches some 17 to 41 billion dollars a year by 2050, with East Asia and the Pacific bearing the deepest losses.”
Various international organisations have been involved in order to maintain the sustainability of the waterbodies of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Among other organisations the most important one is the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas which was constituted in 1982. It “underpins other international treaty arrangements addressing marine resources by establishing the regime of EEZs defining national maritime limits and jurisdiction, bringing waters out to 200 nautical miles under the regulation and control of coastal states”. Other international agreements are 1993 Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas; the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity; the 1995 UN Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Stocks; the 1995 UN Food and Agriculture Organization Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and follow-on 1998 International Plan of Action for the Management of Fishing Capacity; the 2001 International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing and so on. There are also broader fisheries organisations and commissions and environmental organisation to solve the problems of climate change in the Indo Pacific region for that matter. A new organisation in this purview has come into existence in 2012 which comes to be termed as the South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA). The Indian Ocean Rim Association is a large association of the Indian Ocean Rim countries having broader outlook towards the scientific, economic and social prospects of the countries and also to protect their interests and needs although its activities need greater focus and magnification in the present days. The sustainability of the assets proves to be the main focus of the Indo Pacific region. Curbing of green house gases and protection of environmental changes have to be the main focus of each and every country not only in the Indian and Pacific Ocean region but across the globe. The fisheries is also greatly dependent on the well being of the environment and the reduction incidences of pollution in the Indo-Pacific region. Also, the political initiative and the cooperation of each and every nation of this geopolitical region should also take steps towards the protection of the Indo-Pacific region which can prove to be one of the greatest exporter of fisheries, energy and other natural resources across the globe.
