The Sustainable Ocean Governance in the Bay of Bengal: An Analysis from Trans-boundary Aspects

Author: Md. Minhajul Abedin Chowdhury, Dr. Mohammad Saidul Islam, Saiyeed Jakaria Baksh Imran
DOI: doi.org/10.70279/bmj-v2-1106

To keep the planet sustainable for future generations, we have no alternative but to take effective measures to ensuresustainable ocean governance (SOG). To ensure sustainable ocean governancein the Bay of Bengal, joint efforts of the coast states;Bangladesh, India and Myanmar are needed. Therefore, this study focuses on developing a tri-party policy approach, including Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. SOG is a process of exploring and exploiting ocean resources in a way thatprotects the marine ecosystemas well as the rights of future generations. As the Bay of Bengal is mainly the sea basin of three coastal states, namely Bangladesh, India and Myanmar, it is neither possible nor desirable to protect the marine environment, avoiding the contribution of any single littoral state. Trans-boundary issue is a key factor inensuring SOG in this region because without developing any multinational regulatory and policy framework, no state will take the responsibilities of infringement of laws and regulations hampering the marine ecosystem. To solve this issue, states of this region have taken some initiatives, including the establishment of BIMSTEC, SAARC, IORAand ASEAN, but these organizations could not achieve the expected outcomedue to the lack of strong national and regional legal instruments. Therefore, this study focuses on the existing policy and regulatory framework under which the Bay of Bengal is currently governed. It also makes recommendations on howthe regulatory and legal framework be developed for this region following the proven initiatives taken by the different regions of the globe.