ORCID
- Sian Rees: 0000-0001-9606-783X
- Holly J. Niner: 0000-0002-9567-9225
Abstract
The blue economy has roots in the international arena of sustainable development and sets out to unlock opportunities for economy and society whilst protecting and enhancing marine environments. To date there has been no analysis of how this overarching intention for sustainability has influenced the rapid development of blue economy policies at national and regional scales. In this article, we analyse the synergies and conflicts between blue economy policies from a diversity of national and regional policies and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We show that to maintain critical alignment with targets for sustainability, place-based contextual development of blue economies that meet the needs of all actors is necessary. These needs relate to ensuring resilience against future environmental and political shocks, the maintenance of the ecological basis for thriving blue economies, and capacity development at all levels to support effective and equitable governance. Results indicate that co-production will be important to achieve sustainable blue economies.
DOI
10.1016/j.envsci.2022.01.001
Publication Date
2022-01-22
Publication Title
Environmental Science and Policy
Volume
130
ISSN
1462-9011
Embargo Period
2022-03-04
Keywords
Benefit sharing, Blue economy, Marine governance, Marine natural capital, Ocean economy, Sustainable development goals
First Page
25
Last Page
35
Recommended Citation
Niner, H., Barut, N., Baum, T., Diz, D., Laínez del Pozo, D., Laing, S., Lancaster, A., McQuaid, K., Mendo, T., Morgera, E., Maharaj, P., Okafor-Yarwood, I., Ortega-Cisneros, K., Warikandwa, T., & Rees, S. (2022) 'Issues of context, capacity and scale: Essential conditions and missing links for a sustainable blue economy', Environmental Science and Policy, 130, pp. 25-35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.01.001
