Climate change vulnerability and ocean governance
Blasiak, R. (2019). Climate change vulnerability and ocean governance, in: Cisneros-Montemayor, A.M. et al. Predicting future oceans: Sustainability of ocean and human systems amidst global environmental change. pp. 357-364. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-817945-1.00039-3
In: Cisneros-Montemayor, A.M.; Cheung, W.W.L.; Ota, Y. (Ed.) (2019). Predicting future oceans: Sustainability of ocean and human systems amidst global environmental change. Elsevier: Amsterdam. ISBN 978-0-12-817945-1. xxvii, 554 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/c2018-0-02416-0, meer
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| Abstract |
Climate change has already begun to alter the ocean, with potentially severe impacts for communities dependent on the ocean as a source of livelihoods, nutrition, and well-being. Variations in how climate change will affect different ocean ecosystems, and in the capacity for communities to adapt or respond to such changes mean that some countries will be disproportionately affected. A new index of vulnerability to climate change impacts on fisheries has demonstrated that the most vulnerable countries are also among the world’s least developed. Moreover, an analysis of official development assistance (ODA) shows a rapid decrease in funding for programs promoting sustainable fisheries, and allocation decisions largely unrelated to the consideration of vulnerability. Additional resources, however, are no guarantee of successful outcomes, and efforts need to be tailored to regional and local conditions, which are dynamic and in a state of rapid change. A growing suite of international commitments to promote sustainable use and the conservation of marine resources, as well as increasing attention on issues of equity, provide space for optimism. In many cases actions in the global arena have unclear impacts at the local or regional level, and have likewise struggled to adequately incorporate the voices of relevant local stakeholders. One prominent global process, launched by a United Nations’ General Assembly decision to begin negotiating a new treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, is representative of this duality—clear progress toward increasing global awareness and attention to a crucial ocean issue, but characterized to date by imbalances in representation and influence of the least developed countries and small island developing states, with an associated risk of an inequitable outcome to the negotiations. |
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