Climate change challenges maritime security: Karambir Singh

Panaji, Oct 4 (IANS) Apart from piracy, natural phenomena like climate change, rising sea levels, natural calamities pose clear and present dangers to maritime security, Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh said on Friday.Addressing the second edition of the Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC), in which naval top brass from 10 navies surrounding the Indian Ocean regions were in participation, Singh also said that while co-operation was necessary, there was also a need to come up with unique regional solutions.

“Climate change, rising sea levels, natural calamities pose clear and present dangers. Maritime terror, drug smuggling IUU (illegal unreported unregulated), fishing, poaching, trafficking, etc, have increasingly occupied navies across the region,” Singh said.”There is a recognition that no one nation can do it all alone. The vastness of the oceans is only contradicted by the inadequacy of our individual resources. No single entity can single-handedly requisition the full scale of assets, economics and expertise to tackle the gamut of challenges faced. This is also crucial, given the transnational nature of threats,” he said.

The GMC was envisioned as a regional maritime forum of like-minded navies of the Indian Ocean region for apex level dialogue. The forum also served as a construct which aids interaction between stakeholders in the region, thereby supporting co-operative initiatives for maritime security.Singh also urged maritime agencies to “communicate, collaborate and co-operate” on the common concern but also said that solutions must be unique to each respective the region.”One size cannot possibly fit all. There is a need for regional solutions to regional challenges considering the peculiarities, operational paradigms and geopolitical contours of the issues at hand,” he added.

–IANSmaya/niy/ksk