Social Sciences Urged to Reshape Global Blue Economy

A new study by European scientists demands that the social sciences come to the forefront of transforming the Blue Economy, contending that existing strategies are lagging behind in driving sustainability or equity. The study, published in NPJ Ocean Sustainability, emphasizes the need for a people-focused justice framework in ocean resource management.

Headed by Slovenian Science and Research Centre Koper's Jerneja Penca, the consortium points out how the original vision of Blue Economy—a balance of ocean development, environmental defense, and social justice—has been supplanted by an industrial development paradigm. The transformation, they contend, has come at the cost of marginal communities, heightened inequality, and had negative environment impacts.

Originally conceived in 2011 by Small Island Developing States as a way of leveraging coastal communities and stimulating sustainable action, the Blue Economy has subsequently been hijacked by high-level business interests, much of which revolves around such sectors as fisheries, cruise tourism, offshore wind, and aquaculture. These sectors are regularly in the spotlight for their harms, such as pollution, displacing traditional sea users, and marine habitat destruction.

The report mentions cruise tourism as one of the principal causes of environmental strain in port communities, and says that even low-carbon sectors such as offshore renewable energy are already coming into conflict with fisheries and coastal economies. These are indicators of increasing disconnection between sectoral emphasis of the Blue Economy and coastal communities' requirements.

To counter such vulnerabilities, the authors recommend institutionalizing social science knowledge into policymaking in the marine realm. Social sciences empower social scientists with tools to detect power inequalities, organize inclusive forms of governance, and foster alternative conceptions of ocean use, Penca maintains. Without them, she cautions, policymakers are liable to perpetuate cycles of injustice and ecological harm.

One such example quoted is that of the study on small-scale fisheries, which has illustrated systemic barriers to market access to seafood and legal rights to fish. These are critical in establishing policies that enable rather than displace coastal communities.

The paper outlines five core principles for reshaping the Blue Economy:

Societal Anchoring: Research needs to give primacy to society's needs such as food security, maritime workers' rights, and climate resilience, over parochial sectoral interests.

Co-creation with Sea Users: Scholars must work in close partnership with local communities, fishermen, and civil society in order to create interventions based on experienced realities. One initiative had fishermen working with schools to construct sustainable, local seafood supply chains that cut out conventional markets.

Enhanced Science-Policy Linkages: Scientists need to have more interaction with decision-makers through policy briefs, workshops, and advisory positions. Close co-operating guarantees evidence-informed advice becomes integrated into decision-making.

Efficient Knowledge Networks: Transdisciplinarity is also promoted by the authors, specifically engaging hitherto excluded specialists—designers, historians, and researchers from under-represented fields—to diversity perceptions and encourage innovation.

Accountability and Care in Research: Scientific communities must take practices evolved from openness, justice, and respect for one another. Some of these practices are mentoring young scientists, sharing power with various segments of an organization, and fostering dialogue.

These values are evolved from the EU-funded RethinkBlue project, a European research network of scientists. The project aims to reconnect ocean policy with social justice values by enhancing the role of social sciences and constructing interdisciplinary networks.

The authors contend that this burden cannot be imposed on scientists alone. Policymakers shall need to redesign governance models and measurement systems to encompass values of equity, care, and long-term sustainability. This means redefining success—yes, beyond economic growth, but also well-being, inclusion, and ecological vitality.

"Rethinking the Blue Economy is not just a thought experiment," Penca said. "It's a joint effort—among researchers, policymakers, and society—all together around new markers of success and really in effect alternative relationships to the ocean and to one another."

The report adds to a growing literature urging more integrated, justice-oriented ocean resource management. By putting communities and social systems at the center of ocean decision making, it offers a path forward that places the needs of people and the environment alongside economic growth.

Source:
Based on a report by Nirmal Menon