Indian Navy, a full-fledged “Blue Water Force with Green Footprint”

Indian Navy, as an environmentally responsible force, has taken various strides to accelerate the paradigm shift towards renewable energy and reduce its environmental footprint by adopting sustainable lifestyle practices. Green initiatives have always been one of the key focus areas of the Indian Navy. With a shift in our country’s energy policy to low carbon strategy by means of renewable sources of energy, it has been the endeavour to encourage all Naval units and establishments to undertake multifarious activities signaling the progressive transformation towards a ‘Cleaner and Greener’ environment.

The theme for World Environment Day 2024 focuses on solutions to tackle global issues such as Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience. To extend this theme in the maritime domain, efforts on tree plantation, mangrove preservation (as a part of MISHTI Programme of 2023), carbon footprint reduction, plastic disposal and retrieval from coastal areas, new initiatives on mangrove plantation, seaweed cultivation, coral reef surveys have all been facilitated with close interaction with all central and state government bodies and a large number of Government nominated and environmentally conscious firms.

IN had signed an MoU with HCL Foundation and The Habitats Trust for collaborative efforts on rejuvenation of coastal ecosystems and conservation of endangered native marine species in Mar 23 and several events have been coordinated. These include the following: –

1. Biodiversity surveys in Karwar.
2. Creation of Bio-diversity park and trails in the ecological sensitive areas.
3. Ecological restoration & terrain mapping of Anjediva Island for phased restoration, in progress.
4. Coral Restoration plan at Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands collaboration in association with Research & Environmental Education Foundation (REEF), a local NGO.
5. A proposal on the installation of a floating trash barrier in collaboration with the firm M/s Alpha MERS at various locations in Visakhapatnam and Kochi.
6. A visit to INS Chilka to undertake a preliminary biodiversity survey has been concluded.

As personnel in uniform, the resolve to work together towards Environment consciousness has been engrained in our core and as a team, Indian Navy has pledged to continue our unwavering zeal and march in that direction.

With underlying significance of adopting greener lifestyles, IN has prioritized adoption of cleaner and greener practices both at organizational and individual level in line with Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative of the GoI. Actions taken include energy savings through use of occupancy sensors and automatic controller, augmentation of renewables through solar projects, reduced vehicular pollution through emphasis on e-vehicles, observing no-vehicle day within Naval establishments, water conservation measures and reduction in carbon footprint and adherence to GRIHA III norms for new construction buildings.

In keeping with the vision of ‘Clean India Campaign’, IN has initiated a nationwide campaign under the program Puneet Sagar Abhiyaan (PSA). The campaign also focuses towards cleaning the sea shores/ beaches of plastic and other waste and increasing the awareness about importance of keeping them clean, serene and pristine. Local naval units and establishments dedicate one day, each month, towards coastal cleanup including rivers/ lakes and have liaised with local municipal bodies, NGOs, NHAI and Regional Directors of NCC towards responsible disposal/ recycling of waste material.

As a maiden initiative, indigenous make and patented retrofit device developed by M/s Chakr Innovations for reducing diesel engine emissions was installed on shore-based Diesel Generator for long term trials. Additionally, state-of-the-art Hydrogen aspiration technology, is also being progressed through two firms iHATs and AHODs Pilot Projects onboard Ships and Shore establishments respectively. The primary objective of this technology is to reduce the carbon emissions and the results have been highly encouraging. There are also future plans to have hydrogen ferry crafts inducted as a start point towards harnessing this environmentally clean technology.

In line with Govt of India’s initiative of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), extensive efforts have been made to enhance the share of solar energy within Navy. IN establishments have installed solar powered appliances such as solar water heaters, solar street lighting, solar cookers etc.

Community participation has played a great role in successful implementation of initiatives. Institution of green measures in IN have been possible through a self-conscious Naval community, well-aware of the necessity of environment remediation and energy conservation. To foster a sense of responsibility towards environment, various mass participation events such as mass Shramdan, coastal cleanup drives, tree plantation drives, walkathons etc. are organized regularly.

Several efforts have been steered to engage firms to be a part of the Ocean cleanup activities. This activity is likely to fructify in the coming years. Meanwhile, self-reliant methods have been made to undertake sea water Plastic waste cleanup through innovative yet simple methods.

Overall, Navy is furthering its march towards pursuance of the energy and environment goals of our country. It is now a full-fledged “Blue Water Force with Green Footprint” and is cognizant of the role that it has to play for creating a better environment for our future generations.