Mumbai: The 3rd Environment and Climate Sustainable Working Group (ECSWG) meeting in Mumbai recently under India’s G20 Presidency discussed the clean-up of one of the city’s important beaches as part of the broader Blue Economy topic.

The three-day meeting, beginning May 21, began with a side event of mega beach clean-up in Juhu followed by the Ocean 20 Dialogue. Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as well as members of delegations from various countries participated in the beach cleaning campaign.

The first day of the 3rd ECSWG meeting had three sessions discussing various aspects of the Blue Economy. The sessions were held on topics such as Science Technology and Innovation, Policy, Governance and Partnership, and setting up of the Blue Finance Mechanism.

Further, the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change hosted the ‘Ocean 20 Dialogue’ in Mumbai with a focus on advancing ideas on action for ocean solutions and the environment.
Issues related to setting up a policy, government cooperation, and finance system for the ocean economy were deliberated upon during this meeting.

Addressing the Ocean 20 dialogue, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences M. Ravichandran said, “Ocean 20 Dialogue will bring together experts and policymakers from various fields and discuss aspects related to emerging science, technology, innovation, and challenges related to it. It will also establish finance mechanisms to support inclusive policy, governance, and national and regional blue economy efforts.”

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