Date: 05/05/2023

Relevance: GS-2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests; G20.

Key Phrases: G20, Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG), Sustainable Development Goal, Blue Economy, SAI20.

Context:

• Under the Indian presidency, G20 leaders will address urgent policy needs for collective progress, equity and inclusive growth.
  • A slew of events will also be held across the country to focus on solutions to a wide range of issues from climate finance and technology sharing to financial inclusion and digital public infrastructure.
  • The Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) will chair SAI20, the Engagement Group for Supreme Audit Institutions (SAls) of G20 countries in Goa in June.

Key Highlights:

• With the summit theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, India has set the tone and perspective for commitment to green development, circular economy and lifestyle behaviour changes as an actionable plan for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
• Two priority areas have been selected for SAI20 deliberations — blue economy and responsible Artificial Intelligence.

Importance of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAls) 20 Deliberations:

• The engagement of SAIs in advising executives is crucial in balancing key developmental concerns while ensuring sustainable development.
• SAIs’ role in promoting intergenerational equity and addressing climate change concerns highlights their importance in ensuring that the benefits of economic growth are shared fairly across generations.
  • For SAI20, the CAG is to prepare technology-driven tools to assess authorized development in coastal stretches and track marine water quality.
• SAI20 member countries are being engaged in a collaborative exercise to evolve globally relevant audit toolkits along with a compendium of case studies and challenges in the broader framework of auditing coastal spaces, which, inter-alia, include legal and institutional frameworks, compliance to coastal regulation, biodiversity conservation, capacity building and compliance to SDGs.

Roadmap for Blue Economy:

• The Blue economy or Ocean economy’s global annual value is an estimated $2.5 trillion.
  • About 90 per cent of global trade is carried out through sea routes.
• Interest in the blue economy has been steadily gaining traction in recent years.
  • In 2018, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had for the first time laid out the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, a framework investors can use to fund ocean-based industries.
  • Financiers can use it as a reference point to see how marine investment can impact livelihood and poverty eradication.
• The biodiversity framework of COP15 serves as a blueprint for countries to work together and make progress in addressing the global biodiversity crisis.
• The blue economy encompasses an array of coastal activities, including fishing and tourism.
• The measurement of the blue economy is challenging due to conflicting definitions and issues while classifying different sectors and sub-sectors.
  • Existing international economic classifications are unable to properly differentiate between land-based and ocean-based activities, and even the System of National Accounts (NAS) does not provide a clear understanding of the blue economy.
  • Given these difficulties, a new accounting framework is needed that can objectively identify production, trade, and services related to the various segments of the blue economy.
• As a public audit authority, the CAG values independence, accountability and transparency — ideals that shall remain the hallmark of SAI20.
  • Setting compliance standards and a national accounting framework for the blue economy is a long-term priority for the CAG.
• In August last year, the CAG tabled its Conservation of Coastal Ecosystem report in Parliament, which contained its observations on how the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification for 2011 and 2019 have been implemented between 2015 and 2019.
• It looked at the underlining efficiency of development drivers such as project clearances, construction activity, institutional capacity to curb land and forest violations, community livelihood support mechanisms, as well as mitigation management plans to conserve biodiversities such as mangroves and near-shore coral reefs that protect us from weather vulnerabilities like storms and coastal floods.
  • The audit resulted in focused recommendations to help improve the CRZ ecosystem.
• Sea-level rise, water temperature, storm surges and wave conditions are some of the signs of climate change.
  • Unbridled land use changes, sand mining and deforestation impinge on the coastal ecosystem.
  • In the context of India, studies indicate that hazards of cyclones and sea-level rise are likely to be higher in the coastal regions.
  • According to one study, GIS maps from the European Space Agency indicate that 15 percent of India’s coastal areas have witnessed changes between 1992 and 2018 due to agriculture, depleting forest cover and urbanization.
    • Besides that, the population living along the country’s coastal areas is expected to rise from 64 million in 2000 to 216 million by 2060.
• Disaster-resilient infrastructure along coasts that can withstand the impacts of hurricanes, typhoons, and tsunamis is the need of the hour.
  • This is particularly important for coastal communities that are vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise and increasingly intense storm events.
  • The executives should be adequately equipped with infrastructure, especially ICT hubs in place for early warning systems.
  • The development of disaster-resilient infrastructure has implications for the auditing community, as auditors are responsible for ensuring that organizations comply with relevant regulations and standards.

Way forward:

• The toolkits being prepared by SAI20 under the leadership of the CAG of India will be presented at the SAI20 Engagement Group meet.
• This will provide a unique opportunity for constructive dialogue and agreement to improve auditing of performance in specific areas of ocean-based activities.
• This collaborative effort would not only build the capacity of auditors across SAI20 member countries initially but would also help regional auditing communities such as ASOSAI and AFROSAI by providing a common and replicable auditing tool.
• This will help in the assessment of how clearly the policy goals are planned and implemented, and how resource efficiency is maintained while leveraging economic opportunities towards a truly sustainable blue economy based global development model.

Conclusion:

• India has marked the blue economy as one of the 10 core sectors for national growth and a National Blue Economy Policy that aims to harness maritime resources while preserving the country’s rich marine biodiversity has been prepared by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Source: The Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. What are the causes of concern for the coastal zone of India? How can the CAG’s blueprint be helpful to address these issues? (250 Words).