Maritime Security Cooperation in Indian Ocean: Prospects and Way Ahead for IORA
The Indian Ocean is home to one fifth of the world's water bodies and is rich in a range of biological and mineral resources. It is one of the busiest maritime routes in the entire planet. Therefore, it is essential to protect the ecosystem and the natural resources of this ocean. The Indian Ocean has historically been a region of great collaboration, but on the other hand, it has been also blighted by mistrust. Despite the Indian Ocean Region being a significant and heavily used ocean space on which most of the global trade depends, there is insufficient cooperation between the littoral states to ensure the waterbody is safe. This paper examines the necessity of maritime security cooperation in Indian ocean for the betterment of the whole region. In fact, there are numerous ways to cooperate on maritime security in the Indian Ocean, including by utilizing shared resources, capabilities and expertise. The Indian Ocean's users and the littoral states can both be harmed by non-traditional security risks, which can be eliminated with mutual cooperation. Specifically Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), the only pan-Indian ocean organization has significant roles to play in eliminating the security risks and bringing the countries of the Indian ocean and other extra-regional players closer for effective collaboration in future.
Read moreGeo-resource exploration for sustainable development of energy in Bangladesh constraints of geological and geophysical studies of the continental shelf
Fundamental requirement of the sustainability of the energy development is an extensive exploration and production of the geo-resources like oil and gas. Continental shelf of the Bay of Bengal of Bangladesh maritime boundary is found to be the most resourceful offshore area where hydrocarbon especially natural gas potentially occurs. Geological and geophysical studies have revealed that down to the 4000m depth from sea floor the offshore basin beneath the continental shelf contains enormous natural gas. Very high formation pressure at depths around 3500m in the wells drilled and the occurrence of gas hydrates at around 400m depth in the continental slope further support the occurrence of natural gas in this offshore basin. The principal approach for the sustainable development of the energy resource needs extensive exploration activities in the continental shelf of the delta. Continental shelf which has developed due to enormous continuous sediments supply and deposition has emerged as the progading delta. The extraction and exploitation of non-living resources like oil, gas, gas hydrates and seabed minerals are the principal economic components for the sustainable energy development. Bangladesh has taken many folds development program in the continental shelf of ocean-based economy and planning the delta in favor of various maritime activities. This study is an effort to understand the continental shelf of the Bengal Delta in the perspective of its origin, formation, and potentiality of geological resources and its vulnerability of geological and atmospheric hazards. This study focuses mainly on to the geological resources like natural gas, gas hydrates and seabed minerals. Continental shelf-slope margin is also vulnerable to geohazards and atmospheric hazards those may hinder the sustainability of the development. This article also focuses on to the physical changes of the coastal belt since the mapping of Rennell in 1778 and the associated factors, vulnerability of geological hazards, review of the published works and revisiting the continental shelf-slope margin on the status of gas occurrence, gas hydrates and ocean related activities.
Read moreEmerging Blue Economy for Bangladesh: Opportunities, Challenges and Way Forward
Bangladesh’s economy had been largely dependent on Ready Made Garment (RMG). Without product diversification, Bangladesh is likely face difficulties to keep up the GDP growth and to achieve vision 2041. Additionally, depletion of land-based resources made it mandatory for the nation to turn their attention towards the south for sustainable economic development. Single source dependency threatened national development, hence the call for the exploration of alternative resource arose. The primary objective of this study is to seek ways by which Bangladesh can more efficiently utilize the ocean resources in a sustainable way by examining the associated challenges and highlighting the o pp ort un itie s therein. Study adopted Document analysis method. The research findings showed a huge vista for blue economy in Bangladesh like Shipping, Sea ports, Maritime education & research etc. The analysis indicated that, Bangladesh has several challenges including absence of governance, pollution, lack of security in the maritime area, lack of maritime domain awareness, lack of coordination, weak educational base etc. Strategies were proffered which include creation of maritime domain awareness, capacity building of responsible agencies, and effective surveillance over EEZ area. The paper concluded that Bangladesh has potentials to reap benefits from the Blue Economy. However, it requires strong political willingness and commitments which already have been demonstrated in Bangladesh.
Read moreVariation of Surface Chlorophyll-a and its Teleconnection to the Climatological Factors in the Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal (BoB), a subtropical basin in the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, is one of the Largest Marine Ecosystems (LME). It occupies 8% and 12% of mangroves and coral reefs respectively, as well as it provides 6 million tons of fisheries production annually that valuing 4 billion USD. Parameters like Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Mixed Layer Depth (MLD), Sea Level Anomaly (SLA), and Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) are predominant and showed present trends of all the parameters interpreting the correlation with El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). It is found that the southeastern part of the bay is comparatively more ecologically healthy and productive compared to others due to the influences of East Indian Coastal Current (EICC) other parameters as well. MLD and Chl-a concentration have also been affected by the change in climate over recent years. Furthermore, the impact of El-Nino and La-Nina was significant all over the BoB, though there could be more factors responsible for affecting BoB. In all of the analyses according to monthly and yearly observation, a significant changing pattern has been shown in SST, SLA, MLD, and Chl-a from 1997 to 2020. As it is the home of thousands of species and the source of livelihood for 4.5 million people, its importance can’t be denied. Therefore, for a sustainable ecosystem and to conserve the LME, we should have a cumulative effort on restoring a healthy climate by reducing pollution and carbon emissions.
Read moreOffshore Industry in Bangladesh: Present Status and Future Prospect to Contribute for National Economy
The blue economy concept has been an integral focus for the economic solvency of Bangladesh and has gained huge momentum since its inaugural journey into the
national foray around 2013. In the past few years the term "Maritime Economy" has become infamous in Bangladesh while formulating national economy policies and
became integral to the fiscal budgets and forecasts for global investment opportunities throughout the past decade. The deltaic nature, depositional history and sediment criterion, proclaims the existence of oil and gas resources in the deep offshore and adjacent areas. The emphasis on the oil and gas exploration is still lacking behind compared to the other leading countries in Asia at this sector. This article provides an in-depth look into the current state and possible development of offshore industry in Bangladesh while identifying the factors that are essentially to be addressed for ensuring contribution of the sector into national economy. and make the delta plan 2100 successful. In order to meet current electricity demand, offshore renewable energy sources can be a major alternative. The investment policies are to be updated and extensive research works are to be carried out in this sector to attract the major foreign investors in this field.
A Review of the Blue Economy of Bangladesh through the Marine and Coastal Tourism Lens
This paper is a review with aiming to provide an overview on the Marine and Coastal tourism of Bangladesh as an important contributor in the Blue Economy of Bangladesh. The study signifies the sustainable exploitation and conscientious management of oceanic resources to ascertain economic growth with improved livelihood and simultaneously preserve the ecological health of the ocean. The whole concept of the ocean and shore based sustainable economy is also named as Blue Economy. And in Bangladesh, Coastal and Marine Tourism or Maritime tourism is deemed to be the second-highest job-creating sector of the Blue Economy next to industrial fishing. Similar to other South- Asian regions and the Caribbean, Bangladesh is geographically blessed with a coastal area which is serving a significant part for contributing to the growth of the Ocean Economy. This review paper explored numerous research works from several sources based on the blue economy and maritime tourism development of the world and Bangladesh. Further, we have selected most suitable secondary data to portray the role of maritime tourism in the blue economy of Bangladesh. This exploration of the prospects of Marine and Coastal tourism found avenues towards a direction of employment, alternative job and foreign investment through the sustainable use of aquatic and shoreline resources. Alongside aiding and boosting GDP growth, Maritime tourism inspires Community Participation, a tool of sustainability, to ensure a raised standard of living and environmental balance as well. The prospects for developing coastal and maritime tourism in Bangladesh are multidimensional because of the topographical and strategic location. This study also compares the data of the Cruising industry of Bangladesh and the world as a potential segment of marine tourism.
Read moreThe Marine Fisheries Act 2020: An Appraisal
Fisheries are absolutely an important source of income for Bangladesh. Sea Fishing Sector gives a huge revenue income to Bangladesh from the domestic and international markets. To regulate the Sea Fishing sector Bangladesh has passed Marine Fisheries Act, 2020 by repealing the previous Marine Fisheries Ordinance 1983. The aims of the new enactment is to exploited and preserve the marine fishing resources for greater national interest and also keep pace with the UNCLOS standard. The Act has already shown that it has some limits which is discovered through the analysis throughout this paper. The Challenges Bangladesh is facing with the fishing sector and how much the Act can help with the challenges & its’ flaws in proper maintenance are discussed here. Also, whether an amendment is needed or not can be found here. Moreover, the pricehike of the fishing vessels Deep sea and their shortcomings, and the struggles of fishermen are identified. The answer of the question of why Bangladesh has not sent any ships to the Deep sea zone yet has also been mentioned here. Also, what measures to be taken for this are examined and analyzed. The paper has tried to give recommendations where it is needed from the legal and administrative perspective to enhance the business and economic prospects. Overall, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possibilities, prospects, and Drawbacks of Deep sea Fishing- underlined under this Act.
Read more65-Day Marine Fisheries Ban Period: Bangladesh’s perspective on Blue Economy
The concept of a Blue Economy came in front of the nation when Bangladesh won the maritime boundary dispute with Myanmar in 2012 and with India in 2014. Marine fishing is considered one of the important avenues in utilizing BE for Bangladesh. Since 2015, Bangladesh has introduced a 65-day marine fisheries ban period (from May 20 to July 23 of each year) in the Bay of Bengal to ensure the conservation of fish stocks and productive breeding grounds. While the fishing ban is expected to achieve this goal along with meeting the Goal of SDG 14, no study is conducted on how far the ban is implemented in achieving its goal. This study investigates relevant stakeholders? perspectives in understanding the implementation of the 65-day fishing ban and its subsequent results. The study is conducted with a qualitative research approach, in which data is collected from interviews and secondary sources. Data analysis is done in the form of discourse analysis and content analysis. Based on policy design goals, perceived policy outcome, and stakeholders? satisfaction, the policy performance is found „nearly successful?. It is also found that though there is a high level of political commitment, moderate to the higher extent of law enforcement and satisfactory level of community engagement, moderate extent of policy incentive to the fishing community and moderate extent of organizational capacity may have contributed to the perceived implementation deficit. Therefore, a more pragmatic approach might be useful in creating a balance between economic benefit, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability.
Read moreTextbook and teaching materials evaluation: A Top-down understanding
Textbook evaluation and selection is not an easy activity. It asks for time, energy, experience, expertise and many other internal and external things. It involves many people especially those who are in charge of making decision. Textbook evaluation is a very important part of the professional activities of the teachers. The decision is usually made democratically. Autocratic decision is quick but risky. So, the whole process is a team effort. This article shows how a technique can be followed to select textbooks in such a way that everyone involved can contribute. It shows different criteria of selection as well as a structured form of selection and evaluation. It also shows how selection criteria can be established and weighted, and how textbooks can be selected using these criteria. A meaningful comparison/contrast between explicit and intuitive decision is also presented in this article.
Read moreDetermining Tourism Carrying Capacity of Inani Beach, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Tourism carrying capacity (TCC) is often discussed, calculated and implemented in popular tourist destinations as every destination has a capacity to accommodate tourists, beyond which it cannot serve. Therefore, for a given destination, the number of tourists must be kept at an optimum level in order to preserve the natural and/or manmade attractions. Inani Beach is a popular sea beach in Cox’s Bazar receiving thousands of tourists every year. This beach is famous not only for its natural boulders and sandy beach, but also for being home for endangered red crabs. However, the TCC of Inani Beach is not yet calculated and therefore the natural beauty and the colony of red crabs are under threat due to overtourism. This study assesses the TCC of Inani Beach employing the Cifuentes method with some modifications. Findings show that the TCC of Inani Beach is a total of 2,883 tourists per day divided into two sessions (3 hours per session of the 6 hours during the high tide in daylight), so the maximum number of tourists in each session is 1441. The study contributes to TCC literature in the context of Bangladesh and also will assist the government and private sector to improve strategy and policymaking
Read moreEstimate of Emission Caused by the Operation of Proposed Support Service and Utility Vessels for Chittagong Port
The maritime traffic passing through Chittagong port grows by roughly 10–14% annually. The growth in freight handling and ship calls at Chittagong Port since the 1990s, when open market economics and trade facilitation policies were implemented, has made it necessary for the port to expand and upgrade a number of maritime services. It has been found that various types of support, service, and utility vessels are required for the majority of marine service delivery. Based on the expected handling capability of the Chittagong port with respect to conceptual traffic and other port growth over the next three (three) decades, the need for an adequate number of support, service, and utility vessels has been assessed in light of this. Support, service, and utility vessel operations in a marine port, like those of commercial shipping, are one of the main sources of air pollution since the vessels' powerful diesel engines emit a lot of greenhouse gases. This study estimates the shipping emissions produced by proposed support, service, and utility vessels based on actual vessel operations and engine power data. As a result, it is necessary to investigate the generation of emissions caused by the operations of these support, service, and utility vessels.
Read moreA Remote Sensing Approach for Identifying and Mapping the Coastal Urban Heat Island in Bangladesh through Temperature Modeling
The coastal urban region is one of the economic hubs of development in Bangladesh and its land use/ land cover (LULC) and land surface temperature (LST) have been changing continuously for massive upliftment which gives the aftermath of the urban heat island (UHI). This study explored the pattern of LULC and LST changes for the years 2010, 2015, and 2020 and identified the hot and cool locations in 2020 of the Khulna Development Authority (KDA) area. Landsat 7 enhanced thematic mapper (ETM) multitemporal images were used and remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) techniques were applied for identifying and mapping the output. The results have mentioned that almost 19 % of the buildup area has increased in 2020 compared to 2010 whereas it dominates the loss of wetland vegetation, water bodies, agricultural land, and trees and bushes. The contribution index (CI) has revealed that increasing buildup areas promote to raise in the LST which has increased around 7o C over the past decade. The study also identified that about 28 Mouzas were considered hot islands in 2020. This study will be helpful to understand the impacts of LST change and potential hot and cool islands to propound appropriate policy measures to superintend it.
Read moreNecessity of DNA barcoding to identify prospective marine organisms in Bangladesh
Marine biodiversity is more critical than terrestrial. Marine species identification is difficult because of their variation. DNA barcoding is the scientific process where a short DNA fragment is used to identify species. The DNA sequence of unknown species is compared to the reference library of such DNA markers. Various gene regions are used in DNA barcoding. Cytochrome c oxidase I (COI or COX1) is most commonly used in species identification which is found in mitochondrial DNA.16S rRNA gene is widely used in prokaryotes. On the other hand, the 18S rRNA gene is used for microbial eukaryotes. Recently COI sequences were identified from 29 species of threatened fish in Bangladesh. Recently, 237 freshwater fish species DNA was sequenced, and 12 new species have been identified by DNA barcoding. Bangladesh has a maritime area of about 207000 square kilometers which is full of potential marine organisms. However, no systemic approach has been taken so far to identify these vast marine resources of commercial importance that may contribute to the blue economy. This article depicts the necessity of DNA barcoding for molecular identification and characterization of different potential marine organisms.
Read moreSmart Port Management Practices and Implementation: An Interpretive Structural Modelling Approach
Port operations and management, like other industries, are undergoing a digital transformation process that influences existing business models and operational practices in a multifaceted way. The transformation in the industry through the adoption of different technological devices, mainly termed smart port, could bring profitability, sustainability, and operational efficiency in the port operations and systems. The study aims to explore the smart port management framework, practices, and barriers to implementing smart port practices in considering the context of Chattogram port authority (CPA). Existing literature has rigorously been analyzed to frame the smart port structure. Furthermore, the three related groups of CPA, namely port users, port administrators and wider port communities, have been surveyed to investigate the barriers to implementing smart port practices. In that case, interpretive structuring modeling (ISM) has been used to find the cause-and-effect relationship among the drivers. It has been identified that the technological knowledge of port users and employees and resistance to changing the status quo are the influential barriers to implementing smart port practices at CPA. However, the barriers of the port governance model and govt. patrons and support have been found as the driving factors in implementing smart port practices. The study expects to have an immense impact on the adoption of smart port practices in developing countries like Bangladesh.
Read moreMarine Litter: A Persistent Cumulative Threat to Bangladesh Environment
These days, marine litter is a fundamental, all-encompassing issue brought on by human activity, whether deliberate or not. Bangladesh's marine litter has been the subject of very little research. In the South Asian Seas (Region), the Department of Environment has been tasked with preparing a Country Report on Marine Litter in Bangladesh as part of the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme . The University of Dhaka surveyed Bangladesh's coastal region to prepare the country report. The extent and severity of marine litter and plastic pollution at Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar Sea Beach are examined in this article, along with the laws and policies the Bangladesh Government has implemented to address the growing threat posed by marine litter.
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