The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and the Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) Framework
Dr. (Cdr.) Arnab Das
Founder and Director, MRC, Pune
The 21st century is witnessing unprecedented strategic interactions in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), with flurry of political, economic and military activities, both by nations within and the extra-regional powers. The entire global power play is being seen to be unfolding in the tropical littoral waters of the IOR. The global oil reserves from the Persian Gulf pass through the IOR to feed the energy needs of the economic engines in the South East Asia. The finished goods from these industrial hubs traverse the return journey back through the IOR to markets of the west. It is the third largest ocean woven together by trade routes, commands control of major sea-lanes carrying half of the world’s container ships, one-third of the world’s bulk cargo traffic and two thirds of the world’s oil shipments. The global community has discovered the huge potential of undersea resources in the IOR and more and more efforts are being implemented to explore & exploit these precious resources. The economic potential is also accompanied by political volatility and the non-state actors have become a major security threat for the entire region and beyond. The region is highly susceptible to natural disasters originating from the seas and is at the forefront of food and water security concerns. The region is also likely to experience dramatic consequences of climate change, including sea level rise and warming ocean temperatures.
Full Article Content
Sign in to read the complete article.
Dr. (Cdr.) Arnab Das
Founder and Director, MRC, Pune
Dr (Cdr) Arnab Das, Director and Founder of MRC, Pune. Dr Das is a former Naval officer with 2 decades of active services and PhD holder from IIT Delhi with specialization in Underwater Acoustics. He has worked on several projects and has a plethora of publications to his credit.