Nagaland Tourism Minister Temjen Imna Along will be honoured with the Global Blue Tourism Innovation Award at the Blue Economy Summit 2026.
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DIMAPUR — The Co-convener of the Blue Economy Summit 2026, Dr. Roopam Bachhil, has announced that a special award, the Global Blue Tourism Innovation Award, has been instituted for Nagaland Tourism and Higher Education Minister Temjen Imna Along.
According to a press release, the award will be presented during the first-ever Summit on Blue Economy in India, scheduled to be held in New Delhi on June 5 and 6.
The summit is being organised under the joint auspices of the International University, Nagaland; Confederation of Indian Universities; GPF-India; Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment; World Institute of Blue Economy; and the United Nations-affiliated International Association of Educators for World Peace.
She stated that instituting a tourism-focused honour for Along at the summit is highly strategic. While the blue economy is traditionally associated with ocean logistics, maritime trade, and deep-sea resources, coastal and marine tourism constitutes one of its primary economic pillars. Honouring a leader from a landlocked, mountainous region like Nagaland at a maritime-focused summit provides a multi-layered justification.
The Awards and Appreciation Committee considered Along's championing of "inland waterways and riverine" blue tourism, noting that the blue economy framework explicitly encompasses both marine coastal zones and major inland riverine ecosystems.
Under the "freshwater shift" ministerial vision, there has been an active push to explore Nagaland's river networks, such as the Doyang, Dhansiri, and Dikhu rivers, for eco-friendly water sports, riverbank conservation tourism, and community-led angling conservation.
Conveying the message of the Awards and Appreciation Committee Chairman Dr. Markandey Rai, she observed that a model for "high-value, low-impact" tourism ecologies has been envisaged by the Government of Nagaland as the core philosophy of the Blue Economy, utilising water resources for economic growth while preserving the health of the ecosystem.
The committee appreciated the policy of rejecting over-commercialisation, noting that the minister has consistently protected fragile local catchments from mass commercialisation, choosing instead to empower local tribal communities to run homestays, preserve community conservation reserves, and manage upstream watersheds.
Furthermore, the committee observed that the summit serves as a primary forum for public diplomacy, bringing together national and international stakeholders to discuss security, trade, and strategic growth.
‘Connecting the hills to the coast and honouring Nagaland’s tourism leadership at a maritime summit structurally connects India's landlocked Northeast to the country’s broader maritime vision, aligning seamlessly with the national Act East policy,” it read.