A public lecture commemorating Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Day was hosted by UKZN’s Unit of Maritime Law and Maritime Studies in the College of Law and Management Studies.
The unit organised the event in partnership with the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association Academic Group.
IORA is an inter-governmental organisation established on 7 March, 1997 by President Nelson Mandela and the special day provides an opportunity to make IORA more visible among the Indian Ocean Region’s population, and the South African public in particular.
Under the theme of the day: Enhancing a Sustainable Indian Ocean for Future Generations: Our Ocean Our Life, one of the IORA’s objectives of the lecture was to publicise the organisation’s activities to the youth, especially students.
Director of proceedings and UKZN senior lecturer in the School of Law Dr Vishal Surbun said the public lecture celebrated the 27th Anniversary of IORA and the long standing relationship between UKZN and DIRCO.
The lecture was attended by academics, university students, researchers, foreign missions in South Africa and South African government officials.
Welcoming guests, Acting Dean in the School of Law Professor Michael Kidd said UKZN’s location made it appropriate that maritime related studies should be a key focus of the University’s research agenda, providing an opportunity for research partnerships with other countries within IORA.
IORA Secretary General Ambassador Salman AI Farisi commended and acknowledged South Africa’s commitment to ensure that the Indian Ocean served as a catalyst for peace, stability and prosperity. However, he said more collaborations were still needed to unlock the full potential of the Indian Ocean for a brighter, stable and prosperous future for generations to come.
In her message of support, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Dr Naledi Pandor said people’s existence could not be separated from the ocean’s health as 40% of the world population lived near coastal areas, three billion people used the oceans for their livelihoods, and 80% of the world trade was achieved using the seas, making it imperative that the country guarded and preserved the ocean.
‘The oceans and seas contribute to food security and poverty eradication and yet our oceans are under severe threat from human activities where economic profits are pursued at the expense of environmental degradation, acidification, pollution, ocean warming and fishery collapse,’ said Pandor. These threats demanded urgent action to protect the oceans and the people who depended on them.
The keynote speaker, Ambassador-at-Large: Asia and BRICS at DIRCO, Professor Anil Sooklal, spoke on geopolitical contestations and conflicts around the globe. Reflecting on the number of conflicts, Sooklal said conflict brought both challenges and opportunities, going on to give detail on the activities of IORA’s activities over the past 27 years, saying one of the focus areas of IORA was the blue economy.
Sooklal, who is also South Africa’s Sherpa for BRICS as well as IBSA Sherpa and Focal Point for the Indian Ocean Rim Association, said 38 of 54 African states were located near the ocean. ‘South Africa is fortunate to be surrounded by two oceans with 3000km of coastline. With a third of its people living near the coast, it is a bit disappointing that it only generates less than 3% of its GDP from the oceans,’ he said.
Sooklal said Operation Pakisa aimed to grow that percentage to 6% or 7% by 2030. ‘Africa generates about US$300 billion from the ocean economy but that’s still a drop in the ocean given that 38 of African states are ocean states.’
In response to Sooklal, UKZN’s Director of the Maritime Unit Dr Dusty Donnelly reminded students that the event was hosted to introduce them to IORA and for them to realise they have the potential to become leaders in the country’s collective efforts to realise the vision of a sustainable future for the countries of the Indian Ocean rim. She asked the guests to reflect on what their contribution would be in building a sustainable future.
Speaking on behalf of the youth, UKZN Law students, taking the undergraduate elective module taught by Surbun in Maritime Law, Ms Mvelonhle Myeza and Ms Nobuntu Xoseka of the School of Law said the country suffered from ‘sea blindness’ which could be deadly to our economy. They said the country was sitting on ‘blue gold’, a mine that can cure ‘sea blindness’ which behaves much like cancerous cells infiltrating the diverse facets of the economy, particularly hindering youth and skills development. They encouraged direct engagement with the youth and for the government to encourage participation by the youth.
The public lecture highlighted that the Indian Ocean remains an important lifeline to international trade and transport. It is the third largest ocean woven together by trade routes, and 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.
Words: Sithembile Shabangu
Photograph: Sethu Dlamini