“An island is a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide”
(As per United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).
Islands generate their own territorial seas, contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves just like any other land territory. However, rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf and may not categorize as islands (The 1982 convention on the Law of Seas). Islands may occur in oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers. A group of islands is called an archipelago.
Islands can be broadly classified as Continental or Oceanic. Oceanic islands, as the name suggests rise from ocean basins. Whereas, Continental islands are unsubmerged parts of the continental shelf that are entirely surrounded by water. Many of the larger islands of the world are of the continental type. Greenland (840,000 square miles [2,175,000 square km]), the largest island, is composed of the same materials as the adjacent North American continent, from which it is separated by a shallow and narrow sea.
As per IUCN’s guidelines, Islands cover 5% of the earth’s surface, are home to 10% of world’s human population, and support more than 15% of global terrestrial biodiversity, with many species restricted (endemic) to a single island or archipelago. Island life in general has shown to exhibit features of special interest & biological diversity across the globe.
Around 144 islands adorn Gujarat state’s coastline. Most islands accommodate rich biodiversity and it becomes very important to preserve them. Amongst the islands, very few islands are inhabited currently. Given their location and unique environmental setting, environmental conservation and preservation are crucial. Availability of marine resources at most of the islands hold great scope for harvesting and can be used for the benefit of the islanders. The islands also have great tourism potential which is largely underutilized at present. Economic benefits of tourism development can then be shared among all sections of the community. Employment, investment and revenue generation are some of the important aspects which need to be considered while planning for islands.
Further, the development of inhabited islands also needs to be focussed upon in light of protection of rights and livelihood of local communities and improvement of their socio-economic conditions. Holistic Island development is crucial not only at the state level, but also at the national level especially in terms of national security.
