ANCORS, the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong (UOW), and the Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA) at OP Jindal Global University, India, have been awarded a grant under the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI). The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs announced the USD 100,000 grant recently.
Australia-India Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative Partnership grant recipients
The grant flows from the Australia-India Partnership 2nd Grants Round (2012-22), established under their Joint Declaration on a Shared Vision for Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific between the Republic of India and the Government of Australia.
It is “to progress the IPOI initiative to a stage where more intergovernmental activities take place.” Prof Greg Rose from ANCORs at UOW said that this project will build Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation to achieve two objectives:
(1) develop a framework for integrated oceans management across seven pillars of cooperation, and (2) develop a model marine plastic debris mitigation action plan for the Indian Ocean that provides a case study for building coherence within the maritime ecology pillar across Indo-Pacific sub-regions.
The seven pillars of cooperation under the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative were announced in 2019 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as:
– Marine ecology;
– Maritime security;
– Marine resources;
– Capacity building and resource sharing;
– Disaster risk reduction and management;
– Science technology and academic collaborations; and
– Trade, connectivity and maritime transport
The Founding Vice-Chancellor of OP Jindal Global University, Prof (Dr) C Raj Kumar said, “JGU is committed to promoting the India-Australia bilateral relationship. Since the establishment of the Centre for India Australia Studies at our university, we have provided opportunities for our faculty and students to connect with our partner institutions in Australia, and we are delighted to be partnering with the University of Wollongong for this exciting project.”
“I am confident that this Australian-Government funded grant will present my colleagues and our partners in Wollongong with opportunities to contribute to an important policy discussion on issues which impact both countries in the Indo-Pacific.”
The first part of this ground-breaking project will identify ways toward coherence and cohesion across the seven pillars and between maritime sub-regions of the Indo-Pacific. The second part will be a case study of the way to design a marine plastics action plan for the Indian Ocean in a manner complementary to other action plans in other maritime sub-regions of the Indo-as a sectoral case study under the second pillar.
The project on ‘Integrated Maritime Management and Security across the Indo-Pacific: A Framework to Unify the Seven IPOI Pillars, with a Case Study to Reduce Plastic Debris in the Indian Ocean’ will produce a conference, workshop and book. ANCORS and JSIA will complete the project in 2023.
