G20 environment working group meet on Sunday with focus on blue economy

The third Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) meeting of the G20 will be held in Mumbai from May 21 to 23 with aspects of blue economy as its focus, officials said on Saturday.

The meet will commence with a side event on beach clean-up in Juhu, followed by the Ocean 20 Dialogue.

The Ocean 20 platform, launched during the Indonesia Presidency Dialogue, is aimed at advancing ideation and action for ocean solutions.

To ensure continuity and build on the initiative, the Indian Presidency is demonstrating active leadership by anchoring the Ocean 20 Dialogue in the 3rd ECSWG, which will focus on three significant pillars of blue economy, said a statement from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The sessions on the first day of the meeting will cover various aspects of blue economy and the first session will be on science, technology and innovation.

The subsequent session will be on policy, governance and participation, with the concluding session on establishing blue finance mechanisms for blue economy.

The deliberations will be aimed at working towards the wellbeing of oceans and the need to make conscious efforts towards reversing damage to them and protecting marine resources.

The next two days of the 3rd ECSWG will involve discussions on the draft ministerial communiqu with deliberations tuned towards achieving a consensus amongst the G20 countries. The closed-door sessions will conclude on a way forward note for the fourth ECSWG.