Page 66 - MDSL Final

MARITIME DOCTRINE OF SRI LANKA

CHAPTER 5

NEW DYNAMICS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

Introduction

The Indian Ocean is a sea of immense distances and incredible size
covering 20% of earth. The lateral separation across the ocean is more
than 5000nm between South Africa and Australia and it covers seventeen
million square Nautical Miles. Above everything, it is the sheer immensity
of the Indian Ocean which has enabled it to defy domination by any one
power in the past and new struggle in the present. 34

Geographically, the Indian Ocean has two different features; the oceanic
area and the surrounding land area. Its Eastern border covers Singapore,
the Indonesian Islands and Australia up to the longitude of 147 East
0
including Tasmania. To the North, it borders to the Asian continent
covering from Suez to Malay Peninsula. Western border is the African
continent up to longitudes 20 East. However in the South it runs up to
0
latitude 60 South as determined by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. 35
0
Indian Ocean Region (IOR) accounts for more than one third of the global
population. It has a population of nearly 2.6 billion which represents
36
39 percent of the global population and consists of vast and diverse
political, cultural and economic ethnicities. According to the prediction,
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by 2030, population will grow by more than 27 percent, adding another
689 million people. This will create many difficulties to the regional
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countries in terms of providing basic needs and achieving sustainable
development.

Maritime Routes

Ranking the third-largest water body in the world, Indian Ocean is home
to one of the most important sea lanes in the world. These sea lanes are
crucial in sustaining many global as well as regional economic giants.

48 To Nurture a Stable Environment at Sea