editorial-FOR PRINT.pmd - Indian Coast Guard

ROLE OF THE COAST GUARD 

IN MARINE ENVIRONMENT SECURITY : 

THE P 3 C FACTORS 

(Paper presented by 

Insp. Gen. Prabhakaran Paleri, 

Deputy Director General, 

Indian Coast Guard, at the 

Oil Spill Management Workshop held 

at Goa on 19-20 Jul 02) 

National security is everyone’s business, because 

everybody is a beneficiary to it. The way to maximise it is 

through a grand strategy integrated into the system of 

governance, and national character by the government, 

though. The subject of this workshop—oil spill 

management—actually is a humble projection of our 

desire to make a difference in this regard: maximising 

national security and protecting it. In fact, there is more 

to it than oil spill management within the chosen title 

of this workshop that this forum is going to contribute. I 

am sure we can achieve the desired objects at the end 

of it. 

Environment security is one of the elements of national 

security. The elements are not stand-alone entities; they 

are mutually inclusive. They are constantly evolving 

variables with terrain specific characteristics. 

In a living planet, environment means the aggregate 

of all-external conditions and influences affecting the life 

and development of organisms. In the recent past, attention 

of the world has been focusing on major environmental 

degradation issues like deforestation, acid rain, depletion 

of the protective ozone layer, ocean pollution, and global 

warming among others. The seriousness of these debates 

for anybody will be understood from the fact that 

environmental damage can permeate through national 

confines. 

Environmental damage due to war and military 

preparations, and using environment as a weapon of war 

are not strange issues. It has an ancient beginning when 

the Romans destroyed the fields of Carthage by spreading 

them with salt. Damages caused in Vietnam during the 

prolonged war, experiments in climate control as a 

weapon of war during the Cold War period and 

intentional discharge of oil into the Persian Gulf during 

the Gulf War are examples. Such incidents point out that 

we cannot discount intentional spills in the marine 

environment. It could come up as an act of war or 

militancy, or just for economic reasons. The cautious 

interest in environmental damage and its effects to national 

security also comes from the fear of a prolonged nuclear 

winter that the world may face in the aftermath of a nuclear 

war. In a large-scale nuclear war, the resulting smoke 

and dust can radically alter the climate conditions of the 

earth. 

These introductory passages are just to invite your 

attention on the matter of environment security and its 

interactive matrix with other elements of national security, 

important among them being military security, economic 

security, resource security, and energy security. 

For the Indian Coast Guard, marine environment 

security is a wholesome concept. It is a statutory function 

defined in the Coast Guard Act, 1978. The Coast Guard 

identifies marine environment security through four 

activities: 

l 

l 

l 

l 

Protection of marine environment, 

Preservation of marine environment, 

Prevention of marine pollution, and 

Control of marine pollution. 

This is termed as the P 3 C factors of environment 

security. It is not related to a single activity like climate 

change. It involves any activity that will damage the marine 

environment. For example, it could be associated with 

red tide caused by blooming algae that can asphyxiate 

the fish population. It covers a wide range of concerns. 

Ocean by itself is a unique terrain. It is multidimensional. 

It has the surface, the ocean layer, the 

interfacial zones with air and land, and finally the depth— 

the large abyss of treasure. It is vital to a maritime nation. 

It is the only geographical terrain that provides the 

advantage of wealth and absolute stealth at the same

time. Taking into consideration all the factors that govern 

the maritime security, I had defined the concept in a 

research thesis as the all-encompassing complementary 

faction of national security of a maritime nation from 

an ocean specific terrain assessment applicable to that 

nation. The essence of the ocean to humankind has been 

considered widely by a generic term, ocean wealth that 

under the concept of geoproperty can be amplified as 

ocean property to include all the variables that contribute 

to maritime security : 

l 

l 

l 

l 

Ocean resources 

Ocean advantage 

Ocean environment, and 

Oceanic islands 

It was identified by research. I do not intend to amplify 

it further. Ocean property here is the collective term for 

the interrelated and interactive variables within it. 

Ocean environment transcending to marine environment 

in our reference here is the entity that needs to be 

preserved and protected under the P 3 C principles of 

the Coast Guard. 

The Coast Guard is the coordinating authority for the 

P 3 C aspects of marine environment security according to 

the Act. The marine environment security, therefore, is 

one of its statutory duties. Since its formal inception in 

1978, the Coast Guard has come a long way in marine 

environment security, especially in oil spill response 

management. But it needs to evolve further and develop 

its capabilities to envelop the entire P 3 C aspects. Being 

the national coordinator in oil spill response, it has a 

variety of responsibilities under the National Oil Spill 

Disaster Contingency Plan (NOS-DCP). It is the coordinator 

for oil spill response in the entire maritime zones of India 

with specific allocation for direct response functions in 

the maritime zones outside the port limits and notified 

areas around offshore oil facilities. This is a dual 

responsibility in which it has to develop its response 

capabilities and the prowess for coordination through 

various resource agencies and governmental set up. It is 

being done through regular coordination, exercise— 

jointly or otherwise, and annual NOS-DCP meetings. 

Not withstanding response action, it has the additional 

task of monitoring and surveillance both surface and 

aerial. 

The responsibility under the P 3 C concept is much larger. 

It covers total marine environment security. The Coast 

Guard needs to develop an edge towards this objective 

in its doctrinal approach to the problem. Technology, 

especially space applications will be a major contributing 

factor. 

India is an active partner in the South Asian Seas 

Programme of the United Nations through which it has 

been involved in developing a regional contingency plan 

for South Asia for combating oil and chemical spills at 

sea. The nodal agency is the Department of Ocean 

Development. The Coast Guard is a party to the plan. 

Once established, it is expected that there will be bilateral 

cooperation between the South Asian maritime states in 

oil spill response in the area. The Coast Guard needs to 

be prepared for it. 

Indian Coast Guard regularly participates in joint 

exercises with the Maldivian Coast Guard in which it also 

tests its joint capabilities in combating oil spill at sea. This 

is in addition to imparting training to their response 

personnel on request. 

India is also active in the meetings of the Marine 

Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the 

International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The nodal 

agency is the Ministry of Shipping. The Coast Guard is 

represented in the Indian delegation. The Coast Guard’s 

draft report presented for information on implementation 

of the Oil Pollution Response and Preparedness Convention 

(OPRC) and the OPRC-HNS (hazardous and noxious 

substances) Protocol and Relevant Conference Resolutions 

annexed to this paper will give more information on the 

subject. Besides, the Coast Guard is currently studying 

the progress in India on bioremdiation including phytoremediation 

for preparing a report for the next MEPC 

session. In the MEPC, the Coast Guard is representing 

the Drafting Group for upgrading the IMO manual on oil 

spill response and examining the recommendations of 

France to the IMO on bioremediation. This paper also 

contains an annex on the country profile of India in oil 

spill response prepared by the Coast Guard for the 

International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited 

(ITOPF) document. These are in addition to the other areas 

of concern for India in the MEPC. They include recycling 

of ships, and control of migration of harmful aquatic

organisms through ballast water of ships. Both are subjects 

of concern for marine environmental security and are 

handled separately by the Indian delegation dealing with 

shipping in the MEPC sessions. 

The marine environment of Indian Ocean is not well 

studied. There are periodic reports of metal and oil 

pollution along the Indian Ocean rim, more particularly 

in the coastal areas of Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and along 

the oil tanker routes in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of 

Bengal. The spill drift can also be seen around the 

Andaman and Nicobar Islands especially around Port 

Blair, and Campbell Bay and further down. According to 

studies, no specific area in Indian Ocean is strictly free 

from pollution of some kind. It is a serious matter; pollutants 

do not respect national boundaries. 

The Coast Guard is the national agency for ensuring 

marine environment security in India. It involves protection 

and preservation of the environment and prevention and 

control of pollution. As an Armed Force of the Union it 

has the discipline, determination, and drive for it. It needs 

to develop its capabilities, expertise, and interactive 

prowess towards this object. It will be able to do so with a 

doctrinal approach well supported by the government. 

Towards this, I invite this workshop to take note and include 

in the resolution for technological, administrative, scientific, 

and legal empowerment of the Coast Guard on priority, 

supported by adequate funding and decentralised 

authority. Here the emphasis is varied; technology, law, 

and funding are the key factors. In a doctrinal approach 

environment security at the national level should be seen 

separately with marine environment security as part of it. 

Evolution of marine environment technology is vital to this 

doctrine. The doctrinal approach can identify the domains 

through which the goal of environment security can be 

achieved. Oil spill management is complementary to this 

goal in such an approach. It is vital to wealth generation 

and protection in the overall scenario. 

The Coast Guard has its commitment towards this goal. 

It needs the support from the government and concerned 

agencies, that I am sure this workshop will take note. 

Thank you. 

Author may be contacted on E-mail : ppaleri@rediffmail.com

editorial-FOR PRINT.pmd - Indian Coast Guard

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