India’s Arctic Policy

In News 

• Recently, the Ministry of Earth Science has unveiled India’s Arctic Policy, titled ‘India and the Arctic: building a partnership for sustainable development’.

Major Highlights of the policy 

• India’s Arctic policy titled ‘India and the Arctic: building a partnership for sustainable development’ lays down six pillars: 
  • Strengthening India’s scientific research and cooperation
  • Climate and environmental protection
  • Economic and human development
  • Transportation and connectivity
  • Governance and international cooperation
  • National capacity building in the Arctic region.

• India’s Arctic policy shall be implemented through an action plan, and an effective governance and review mechanism involving the inter?ministerial Empowered Arctic Policy Group.
• Implementing India’s Arctic policy will involve multiple stakeholders, including academia, the research community, business, and industry.

India’s Arctic policy aims to promote the following agenda—

• Institutional and human resource capacities will be strengthened within Government and academic, research and business institutions.
• Inter-ministerial coordination in pursuit of India’s interests in the Arctic.
• Enhancing understanding of the impact of climate change in the Arctic on India’s climate, economic, and energy security.
• Contributing better analysis, prediction, and coordinated policymaking on the implications of ice melting in the Arctic on India’s economic, military and strategic interests related to global shipping routes, energy security, and exploitation of mineral wealth.
• Studying linkages between polar regions and the Himalayas.
• Deepen cooperation between India and countries of the Arctic region under various Arctic forums, drawing expertise from scientific and traditional knowledge.
• Increase India’s participation in the Arctic Council and improve understanding of the complex governance structures in the Arctic, relevant international laws, and geopolitics of the region.
• India’s Arctic policy would play an essential role in preparing the country for a future where humankind’s biggest challenges, such as climate change, can be addressed through collective will and effort.

India And The Arctic – A History Of Cooperation 

• India’s engagement with the Arctic started in February 1920, when it signed the Svalbard Treaty in Paris. 
• India has ratified almost all international treaties and is a member of international organisations that are relevant to the Arctic. 
• Expeditions:
  • India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic in 2007 to initiate a series of baseline measurements in biological sciences, ocean and atmospheric sciences and glaciology.
  • Subsequently, the Indian research station Himadri at the international Arctic research base at Ny-Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard was dedicated to the nation in 2008. 
  • In 2016, India’s northernmost atmospheric laboratory was established at Gruvebadet. 
• Other involvements 
  • Indian researchers are also monitoring arctic glaciers for their mass balance and comparing them with glaciers in the Himalayan region. 
  • India has also been actively involved in studies related to the Arctic oceanography, atmosphere, pollution and microbiology. 
  • Since becoming an Observer nation in the Arctic Council in 2013, India has been actively participating in meetings of Senior Arctic Officials and contributing to the six Working Groups of the Arctic Council.
  • India’s engagement with the Arctic region has been consistent and multidimensional. The country maintains that all human activity should be sustainable, responsible, transparent, and based on respect for international laws.
• Benefits /Opportunities:
  • India’s interests in the Arctic are scientific, environmental, economic as well as strategic. 
    • It is for this reason that India’s engagement with the Arctic region over the decades has been consistent and multi-dimensional. 
    • India believes that any human activity in the fragile region should be sustainable, responsible and transparent, based on respect for international laws, including UNCLOS. 
  • Melting Arctic ice also opens up new opportunities like energy exploration, mining, food security, and shipping. 
  • India is the third-largest energy-consuming country in the world, the third-largest oil importer (83 per cent) and the fourth-largest importer of gas which caters to almost half of the total gas consumption.
  •  India’s gas mix in the energy basket amounts to only 6 per cent, which is among the lowest in the world, compared to the world average of 24 per cent.
  • This is targeted to be scaled up to 15 per cent by 2030.
  •  The Arctic can therefore potentially address India’s energy security needs and deficiency of strategic and rare earth minerals.

• Challenges: 
  • The vulnerability of the Arctic to unprecedented changes in the climate is manifested by the loss of sea ice, ice caps, and warming of the ocean and atmosphere. 
  • It will lead to lowering of salinity levels, rising temperature differential between land and oceans in the tropical regions, drying of subtropical areas and increase in precipitation at higher latitudes. 
  • India is particularly impacted due to the likely effect of these changes on critical aspects of national development such as economic security, water security and sustainability, weather conditions and monsoon patterns, coastal erosion and glacial melting. 
  • The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the scale of disruption that can be caused by pathogens. The thawing of permafrost soil as a result of global warming could also potentially release viruses and bacteria that have been dormant for thousands of years, thereby increasing the probability of pandemics. 
  • Other challenges :
    • Inadequate Funding:
    • Lack of an Articulated Policy
    • Awareness and Capacity

Conclusion 

• India’s Arctic Policy is timely and is likely to provide a direction to India’s policy-makers on contours of India’s engagement with the region. 
• It is the first step towards developing a whole-of-government approach on India’s engagement with the region. 
• The Policy is likely to have a multiplier effect towards a more synergised and focused scientific research including an enhanced understanding of linkages between monsoons and climate change in the Arctic, and between polar studies and the Himalayas. The economic agenda of the Policy is likely to help Indian industries establish a toe-hold in the region, as also gain access to clean and environmentally sustainable technologies

Source:PIB