Marine Environment: Management and People's Participation

Prabhakaran Paleri

Life on earth is sustained by the ocean. The ocean that has been treated as a universal sink by human habitation can give up the ghost one day. We do not know for sure, though. But the end, if it is there, will be slow and painful. Everything around the ocean will go along with it. The only life form that could prevent such happening is the human being. Therefore, people's participation is the key for managing the marine environment. In this context, it is important to understand that the marine environment comprises not only the ocean but also the part influenced by it over the land and the air above. It is possible to handle the marine environment better through people and appreciating it as a continuum, not fragmenting it by impulse. The book is about it. It looks at marine environment management differently.

The book is a researched publication. The intention is to identify a variety of measures to manage the marine environment. Towards this objective, the study delves into new concepts and recommends additional findings in a manner that is useful for people involved in the management of marine environment at individual, local, national and international level. Throughout the study, the author maintains the stasis of marine environment as one that is continuous. The study also identifies the centre of gravity of marine environment lies not exactly in the ocean, but within the interfacial marine environment (IFME) that is the part of the ocean-land-air continuum. The IFME is a new concept identified in this research.

The book highlights the fact that people's participation is vital in managing marine environment, because no human on the planet can afford to shun away from the responsibility towards environment. Constitutions acclaim it. The book is expected to be useful to the practitioners, governments, administrators, researchers, scholars, media, students and the public in general. The key words are highlighted for better understanding along with diagrams and tables. Glossary, appendices and bibliography supplements the reading for research and understanding.

Prabhakaran Paleri Prabhakaran Paleri is the former director general of the Indian Coast Guard. He served in the executive branch of the Indian Navy and Customs Marine Organisation before joining the Indian Coast Guard in its early years. He holds a multidisciplinary Ph.D. degree in business administration and defence studies. A graduate in engineering, he is also a postgraduate in Business Administration from the University of Madras, and in National Security Strategy from the National Defence University, Washington, D.C. He is a Fellow of the Narotham Morarjee Institute of Shipping. Currently, he is the professor and head of the School of Management Studies at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, and a part-time director on the Board of the Cochin Shipyard Limited. He had been a visiting research fellow in strategic studies in India and abroad. He has published various papers and three books.