Co-creating a just and inclusive blue economy: an analysis of ocean justice in academic literature, policy and legislation.

The blue economy concept that gained popularity after the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) has since been advocated by public and private actors as well as environmental non-governmental organisations. Defined as “the sustainable pursuit of economic activities resulting from the exploitation of coastal and marine resources” (Germond-Duret and Germond, 2022) the blue economy concept has raised both hope and concerns: hope that environmental protection will be at the heart of (economic) activities at sea; and concerns that it will facilitate further unsustainable exploitation of coastal and marine resources. It can be seen as being part of a wider “blue acceleration” process, “a race among diverse and often competing interests for ocean food, material, and space” (Jouffray et al., 2020).

The academic literature as well as policy and legal documents on the blue economy, almost non-existent a few years ago, is now burgeoning. However, it remains an ambiguous and contested concept, and further work is needed to address the place of environmental protection within the blue economy, the role of communities in this process, and the potential human and social costs of additional economic activities at sea. As research on the blue economy expands and as stakeholders further exploit coastal and marine resources, it is critical to deepen our understanding of how the blue economy can be just and fair.

Deploying corpus linguistic analysis this paper will examine the existing academic literature as well as policy and legal documents on the blue economy published by governments, civil society, regional and international organisations to investigate:

(1) to what extent traditionally overlooked stakeholders, such as coastal communities, are represented in the academic literature, policy and legal documents related to blue economy?

(2) are the economic, social and cultural justice implications of blue economy activities addressed?

(3) what checks and balances mechanisms are put in place to support inclusive participation of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, small-scale fishers, women, children and young people at the heart of the process?

UN databases such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s SSF-LEX, the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea’s Maritime Zones and Maritime Delimitation database, and the International Seabed Authority’s national legislation database will be used to collate various governments’ documents related to the blue economy.

The findings from the paper will identify trade-offs and inequities that surface as blue economies rapidly develop and provide pathways to integrate transdisciplinary action research approaches, processes, and innovation that are needed to unlock the potential of science to develop sustainable blue economies (Heidkamp et al., 2021). Transdisciplinary research implies working with ocean experts from varied disciplines, different knowledge holders and stakeholders in the co-design of solutions (Febrica, 2021).