Draft Indian Arctic policy explores future path

The Government of India is in the process of formulating an Arctic Policy and had sought comments on its draft from interested parties on its website. While commenting on the draft closed on 26 January 2021, what is interesting to note is that India seeks to play a larger and more constructive role in the Arctic by leveraging its vast scientific pool and expertise in Himalayan and polar research.

The importance of the Arctic for India is constantly growing, primarily due to the challenges associated with climate change and global warming. India was accorded the status of an Observer to the Arctic Council in 2013, one of the 13 countries in the world to have done so. The fact that this status was renewed in 2018 reflects India’s contribution to Arctic studies and research.

India also aims to contribute in ensuring that as the Arctic becomes more accessible, the harnessing of its resources is done sustainably and in consonance with best practices formulated by bodies such as the Arctic Council. India’s draft Arctic Policy captures these goals while charting a way ahead that focuses on building capacities to increase our level of engagement with the region.

According to the draft policy, India’s Arctic Policy Roadmap for Sustainable Engagement rides on five pillars: science and research activities, economic and human development cooperation, transportation and connectivity, governance and international cooperation, and national capacity building.

It points out that the vulnerability of the Arctic to unprecedented changes in the climate is manifested by the loss of sea ice, ice caps, and warming of the ocean and atmosphere. It will lead to lowering of salinity levels, rising temperature differential between land and oceans in the tropical regions, drying of subtropical areas and increase in precipitation at higher latitudes.

The potential threat to biodiversity and its impact remains in the Arctic, but it is intricately connected with the subtropics and even the tropics ecosystems.

India is particularly impacted due to the likely effect of these changes on critical aspects of national development, economic security, water security and sustainability, weather conditions and monsoon patterns, coastal erosion and glacial melting. Indian agriculture is heavily dependent on the monsoons. It receives around 70% of its annual rainfall during this season. The yield of staple summer crops such as rice, pulses and soybeans, which account for almost 50% of India’s food output, are dependent upon the precipitation during this period. A good monsoon is critical for India’s food security and the wellbeing of its vast rural sector. Changes in the Arctic and global ecosystem induced by melting Arctic ice, can thus be highly disruptive for India.

India’s engagement with the Arctic began in February 1920, when it signed the Svalbard Treaty in Paris. Its polar research experience began in 1981 when the first scientific expedition to Antarctica was undertaken.

India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic in 2007. The objective was to initiate a series of baseline measurements in biological sciences, ocean and atmospheric sciences and glaciology. Subsequently, the Indian research station ‘Himadri’ in the international Arctic research base at Ny-Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway was dedicated to the nation in 2008.

IndArc, the country’s first multi-sensor moored observatory was deployed in 2014. In 2016, India’s northernmost atmospheric laboratory was established. The laboratory is equipped with several instruments that can study clouds, precipitation, long-range pollutants, and other background atmospheric parameters. Indian researchers are also monitoring Arctic glaciers for their mass balance, comparing them with glaciers in the Himalayan region. All these bear testimony to the technical competence and commitment of India’s scientists towards understanding the Arctic.

India’s focus on cryospheric research has assisted in increasing the understanding of the Arctic. India has also been actively involved in the Arctic oceanographic, atmospheric, pollutant and microbiology related studies. Over 25 institutes and universities are currently involved in Arctic research in India. About a hundred peer-reviewed papers have been published on Arctic issues since 2007.

India’s Arctic station Himadri is presently manned for about 180 days a year. Since its establishment, over three hundred Indian researchers have worked in the station. India has sent 13 expeditions to the Arctic since 2007 and runs twenty-three active projects. With participation in the Svalbard coastal cruise and in several other international expeditions, India’s engagement in the Arctic has significantly risen in recent times.

India’s association with the Arctic is part of its overall polar programme, which includes activities in the Arctic, Antarctic, Southern Ocean and the Himalayas.