Special issue in Maritime Studies: Marine Conflicts and pathways to sustainability in an era of blue growth and climate change

A collection of ten unique articles has been published as a special issue in Maritime Studies, titled Marine Conflicts and pathways to sustainability in an era of blue growth and climate change. This special issue was born out of a session that took place at the 2021 MARE People and the Sea Conference, Blue conflicts and pathways to sustainability, in association with Belmont Forum’s collaborative research action on ocean sustainability. There, eleven paper presentations including audience participation and related discussions which explored topics related to sustainable transformations of oceans conflicts, including contributions from the research projects OCEANS PACT, MULTI-FRAME, and NO CRISES.  

Four of the current ten papers in this collection are part of the OCEANS PACT research project. These are: 

Strategies for addressing conflicts arising from blue growth initiatives: insights from three case studies in South Africa. 

Multispecies blue justice and energy transition conflict: examining challenges and possibilities for synergy between low-carbon energy and justice for humans and nonhuman nature.  

Sustainability conflicts in the blue economy: planning for offshore aquaculture and offshore wind energy development in Norway

Ocean conflicts for whom and why? Participatory conflict assessment in the southeast coast of Brazil. 

The final paper to be released, and which completed the Special Issue collection, was the introductory commentary, published the 6th of January 2024. This paper was written by Fred Saunders, Ralph Tafon, Maaike Knol-Kauffman and Samiya Selim. Maaike Knol-Kauffman wrote in an email that with this paper, they introduce each article in the collection and “argue that conflicts, while problematic, can also lead to positive societal change by unveiling and transforming unsustainable practices.” Knol-Kauffman also wrote that the final introductory commentary provides two different approaches for researchers who are facing marine conflicts. One which is a “social-ecological systems approach emphasizing collaborative governance for conflict resolution”, and another which is a “political-ecology approach addressing power dynamics and resource distribution”. Finally, the paper provides insights into what is referred to as “sustainability transformation pathways”, with emphasis on the significance of finding common ground amongst and between parties within a conflict, and of re-evaluating and restructuring existing power dynamics. 

The introductory commentary, entitled Introductory commentary: Marine conflicts and pathways to sustainability in an era of Blue Growth and climate change, can be found here: 

 Introductory commentary: Marine conficts and pathways to sustainability in an era of Blue Growth and climate change

 

The entire Special Issue collection can be found here:

Marine Conflicts and pathways to sustainability in an era of blue growth and climate change