Plastic Pollution & Oil Exploration Emerge as Serious Threats to the Indian Ocean

Apr 22, 2022 by Monika Thakur in Environment

Indian Coast Guard is tasked with the challenge to tackle marine pollution as per the Union defence secretary, and the Indian government plans to revert things back to normal in this highly sensitive region

The Indian Ocean has been amongst the rapidly growing regions for the country’s developmental and trade activities. Unfortunately, the increasing human presence, maritime traffic, and oil exploration have turned out to be a massive threat to this vital waterbody. With these increasing activities, the ocean is facing colossal environmental threats, mainly attributed to plastic pollution and oil spills.

Based on a recent study, Dr. Ajay Kumar, Union defence secretary, mentions that around 15 million tons of plastic deposited in the Indian Ocean is emerging as a huge environmental hazard in this region. This is also causing a new challenge to the Indian Coast Guard, which now has to keep a check on the marine pollution in this area.

Plastic Pollution & Oil Exploration Are New Threat to the Indian Ocean

Image: Weather

At the eighth edition of the National Marine Pollution Exercise in Goa, Dr. Kumar said,

The Indian Ocean is one of the fastest-growing regions of the world. However, today, all these activities happening around the Indian Ocean have also made it one of the most polluted oceans in the world. A recent study by the World Bank states that the Indian Ocean region is today the second most polluted region in the world.

The eighth edition of the National pollution Exercises involved 19 participating countries, and 30 other countries that took part as observers.

While addressing the event, Dr. Kumar also showed his concern about the oil spills, as this region is now becoming a good source of oil exploration. But oil industries are causing over 700 tons of spillage into the Indian waterbodies. and, this is a serious cause of concern for our environment.

Image: World Atlas

To stop oil spills and plastic pollution in the Indian Ocean, the defence secretary discusses the Indian government’s plans to control pollution. With this initiative, Dr. Kumar is certain to ingeniously showcase India’s ability to manage pollution. Not just for the Indian coast guard, but they will also work for other friendly foreign countries if the venture is successful.

Moreover, littoral states in the area also need to join hands to keep the Indian Ocean free from pollution. This is how the huge resources of this massive ocean can be preserved for our future generations.To make this mission possible, not just the neighbouring states need to come together, but also the vital international agreements and international treaties need to make a collective effort. Only then, there can be some visible improvement in the environmental conditions.