Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract TThe growing relevance of the seas and the ocean in terms of economic, geopolitical and governance is reflected in the increase and diversification of scientific publications on the subject, as well as in the global agenda. Within the United Nations (UN) scope, the 2030 Agenda (2016-2030), its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the recent Decade of Ocean Science for the Sustainable Development (2021-2030) highlight the international effort in favor of knowledge, preservation, and sustainable exploitation of these resources. However, there is a vast and recent economic literature on the subject, which is confused and often contradictory, negatively affecting the international debate and policymaking. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to dot the I’s and cross the T’s on this literature, which frequently uses a wide nuance of terms as synonyms, such as blue economy, marine economy, maritime economics, ocean economy, economy of the sea, blue growth, coastal economy, and maritime cluster. Thus, it is necessary to explain the differences between these “fifty shades of blue” economy concepts, specifically because of the relevance of the topic in the Decade of Ocean Science, which often seems limited and misunderstood. To this end, the article performs a bibliometric approach based on 1,351 publications from Scopus and WoS databases, covering the 1959-2020 period, followed by a systematic review. We use the Bibliometrix package in RStudio (v. 3.6.3) to investigate metadata and Biblioshiny as a tool for data analysis. Among our main results, stand out: (i) the progress of the discussion over time; (ii) the expansion of the themes and actors involved in this agenda; and (iii) the main issues and trend topics associated with the different concepts. Since 2012, blue economy has been the most used concept due to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. Given the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the relevance of the blue economy is an urgent step to promote anti-cyclical economic policies and to address the UN Ocean Decade, particularly in the Global South.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract This paper presents major gaps and challenges for implementing the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) in the Mediterranean region. The authors make recommendations on the scientific knowledge needs and co-design actions identified during two consultations, part of the Decade preparatory-phase, framing them in the Mediterranean Sea’s unique environmental and socio-economic perspectives. According to the ‘Mediterranean State of the Environment and Development Report 2020’ by the United Nations Environment Programme Mediterranean Action Plan and despite notable progress, the Mediterranean region is not on track to achieve and fully implement the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030. Key factors are the cumulative effect of multiple human-induced pressures that threaten the ecosystem resources and services in the global change scenario. The basin, identified as a climate change vulnerability hotspot, is exposed to pollution and rising impacts of climate change. This affects mainly the coastal zones, at increasing risk of extreme events and their negative effects of unsustainable management of key economic assets. Transitioning to a sustainable blue economy is the key for the marine environment’s health and the nourishment of future generations. This challenging context, offering the opportunity of enhancing the knowledge to define science-based measures as well as narrowing the gaps between the Northen and Southern shores, calls for a joint (re)action. The paper reviews the state of the art of Mediterranean Sea science knowledge, sets of trends, capacity development needs, specific challenges, and recommendations for each Decade’s societal outcome. In the conclusions, the proposal for a Mediterranean regional programme in the framework of the Ocean Decade is addressed. The core objective relies on integrating and improving the existing ocean-knowledge, Ocean Literacy, and ocean observing capacities building on international cooperation to reach the “Mediterranean Sea that we want”.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The role of women in the fisheries sector is largely underestimated and underreported. Although women are a fundamental part of the seafood supply chain in Brazil, fisheries management is gender-biased; sectoral programs and policies fail to recognize, support, and guarantee fisherwomen legal and labor rights. Brazilian fisherwomen have been very active in claiming their rights and recognition in the fisheries sector; however, public policies are lagging, and so are the studies that subsidize them. Within the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and 2030 Agenda, it is critical to analyze the interactions between SDG 14 (Life below water) and SDG 5 (Gender equality) to discuss the gender dimensions underpinning fisheries (un)sustainability. We performed a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of gender-oriented studies in marine fisheries in Brazil. We identified 19 studies, published up to December 2020, focused on artisanal fisheries. The publications show that women are present in fisheries and are fundamental subjects to maintaining the activity and continuity of this livelihood. However, fisherwomen remain invisible. Their work is underreported, underpaid, and undervalued, which jeopardizes the sustainability of artisanal marine fisheries. Considering the knowledge gaps to be addressed during the Ocean Decade, we recommend that researchers and politicians work to: make "hidden workforce" of women visible, embrace interdisciplinarity, set research priorities, fill the data gap, and subsidize public policies. During the next few years, it is critical to enable and settle monitoring and assessment programs that provide open access to data, information, and technologies for the predictability, the sustainable harvesting of the ocean, and the correct design of gender-sensitive fisheries and aquaculture policies.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract How should one assess whether traditional ocean industries and new ocean emerging activities have the right incentives to engage into a blue sustainable economy path? The case of Brazil’s Public Expenditure Review (PER) of tax exemption and subsidies applied to ocean related economic activities from 2011 to 2018 opens the debate. The extra-budgetary PER is applied with the Rio Markers from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the economic activities listed by the World Bank´s Blue Economy, Ocean Decade’s results and Sustainable Development Goal 14 targets. The data on tax exemption and subsidies was obtained from official sources, from the Federal Government Budget System maintained by the Ministry of Economy. The screening was carried out for all national level tax relief and subsidies applied during 2011 and 2018. There were 316.4 billion reais (US$ 80.2 billion) spent by Brazil’s Federal government on ocean-related economic activities, either directly or indirectly, through subsidies and tax relief over 2011-2018. The accumulated GDP over that period was equivalent to 45.9 billion reais (US$ 11.6 billion). The sector that most benefitted is Agriculture (includes fishing), which received around 229.1 billion reais (US$ 58.0 billion) in incentives during this period. As for the method, it is necessary to develop and establish standardized ocean related markers in the economy and in PER reviews.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The frequency and intensity of ocean related hazards and its overlapping and cascading effects are escalating with devastating and unsustainable impact on life and livelihoods in the Western Tropical Atlantic. From the Bahamas to Brazil, from Mexico and Central America to the Lesser Antilles, coastal and maritime communities have been impacted by hurricanes, storm surges, earthquakes, sargassum and oil spills along with other climate, weather and human induced events. In addition to the coastal impacts, ocean hazards also have affected the safe and timely delivery of goods and services in a region that is extremely dependent on maritime transport. COVID-19 has compounded even more the situation of millions of people in the region and put extreme pressure on government officials, including disaster management and health professionals as well as the maritime industry. Climate change will only exacerbate the situation. The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) presents itself as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stop the cycle of disasters with “A Safe Ocean” as one of its seven major societal outcomes. The Western Tropical Atlantic Safe Ocean Working Group was established to co-design and co-deliver with local, national and regional partners transformative strategies that will facilitate and inspire actions to reduce and mitigate the ocean related threats while creating resilient and safer coastal communities and maritime activities. At the core is an Integrated Multi Hazard Ocean Data and Forecast System. Its services would be linked to education, outreach, readiness and communication that empowers and recognizes national and local policy decisions and includes individual response for the protection of life and livelihoods. This effort should support relevant science and strengthen capacity leaving no one or country behind.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT In recent years, the identification and economic valuation of ecosystem services have been identified as an important tool to recognize and translate nature’s contribution to people’s well-being. It is understood that assessing the economic value of ecosystem services contributes to better decision-making process regarding ecosystems, since it helps evaluation of trade-offs in alternative scenarios. Sandy beaches are among the most valuable coastal ecosystems, especially in regards to cultural services; however, they are still commonly subjected to several impacts that compromise the ecosystem integrity and capacity to provide multiple services, especially in the Global South. For this reason, management policies are crucial to reduce negative impacts. Assessing ecosystem services should be seen as a strategic approach to provide empirical support to these policies. We reviewed studies assessing and valuing sandy beach services in Brazil to identify strengths and gaps that could guide future studies. Our analysis showed that, despite Brazil being one of the leading countries in the published literature on sandy beach science, the number of studies assessing and valuing ecosystem services are small. Most of those studies are published in the native language, Portuguese, limiting the possibility of discussion and experience exchange at the international level. The services related to the use of beaches for tourism and leisure are the main category evaluated, and studies seem to focus on tourist beaches, especially those providing monetary evaluation, which follows the global trend. An increase in the number of published studies in recent years suggests a growing interest in the research subject. Based on the literature review, we discuss the results and make recommendations to guide and foster studies assessing beach services in the context of the Ocean Science Decade.

Resumo em Inglês:

ABSTRACT Ocean Literacy (OL) was proposed by UNESCO as a goal for the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Ocean Decade) aiming to (1) increase understanding of the importance of the ocean, (2) significantly influence communication on related subjects, and (3) facilitate informed and responsible decision-making about the ocean and its resources. Formal education is essential to expand the reach of OL, providing people with tools to engage in coastal and marine issues consciously and knowingly. To this end, content analysis of school curricula can help planning strategies, especially to empower citizens to implement public policies. This study assessed the extent to which OL-related terms and words are present in Brazilian curricular documents at federal (National Curriculum Parameters-PCNs and Common National Curriculum Base-BNCC) and regional (Federative Units curricular guidelines-RCs) levels. Qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative analyses (descriptive and non-parametric statistics, and multivariate analysis) were performed. The number of occurrences of OL-related words and terms were registered and counted. Nineteen words were found, totaling 797 citations (a frequency of 0.0001 in the total number of words referring to content). The number of citations were higher in BNCC-based RCs than in PCN-based RCs (Kruskal-Wallis test, p = 0.0009). Principal component analysis separated the documents into two groups, one related to BNCC-based RCs of Northeast, North and Midwest regions, with a higher number of OL related terms, and the other group with the PCN based RCs of these same regions plus those documents of Southeast and South regions (principal component 1 explaining 97.90% of the total variation and having 0.93 correlation with the total frequency of citations). General results indicated that Brazilian production on fields and themes related to OL is still concentrated in national journals, books, and booklets, thus with a limited impact. In same way although school curricula in Brazil have a larger number of topics on marine environments than do other countries, they showed heterogeneity among Federative Units, but generally with the topics still representing a very small fraction of Brazilian curricula. Thus, it is necessary to expand the contents related to the ocean and marine environments in curricula to provide students with basic knowledge about the importance and functions of these environments, as well as their conservation. Therefore, results here emphasize the need to implement OL to highlight the importance of knowledge of the oceans and enable citizens to discuss marine conservation policies and promote ocean sustainability. This study provided some strategies to increase OL in formal education and, hence, reach various stakeholders, which is fundamental to implement the United Nations Ocean Decade in Brazil and the Global South.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract The ocean is a unique system connecting ecological, economic, social, and cultural components, through which goods and services regulate the planetary condition and support the development of mankind. However, its increasing use has followed the exponential growth of the global economic system, outpacing humanity’s ability to develop the knowledge necessary to establish a basis for its proper use. Hence, there is an added perception that our necessary knowledge about the functioning of the ocean for its appropriate planning and management, advances at a slow pace, with which the ocean would be losing quality and sustainability. Systemic views of the ocean tend to highlight dominant components and processes instead of structural details, establishing a quality shortcut to the knowledge where society can understand current and future ocean conditions. To achieve the desired ocean health and sustainability, we propose the formation of a base of knowledge of the marine and coastal environments, capable of supporting best practices and policies for planning and management. We drew from the interdisciplinary research developed by the Brazilian research group “Ecosystem-Based Marine and Coastal Management (Eco-MCM), ” which has been developing projects based on three fundamental steps: (1) systemic analysis of the marine and coastal environments, highlighting their ecosystems, ecosystem services, social and economic benefits produced by the services and the stakeholders benefited; (2) modeling of the studied systems, and (3) propositional phase to incorporate models to support the practices and policies for their planning, management, and governance. As such, they are aligned with the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) challenges and outcomes.

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Abstract Following the 2004 Indian Ocean and the 2011 Tohoku earthquakes and tsunamis, there has been steady progress in tsunami science and preparedness worldwide. Currently, there are four Tsunami Warning and Mitigation Systems as Intergovernmental Coordination Groups (ICGs) coordinated by IOC/UNESCO. They include tsunami monitoring, warning, and response. They are mostly based on scientific knowledge including tsunami hazard assessments, 24/7 monitoring systems, agreed operational standard procedures (SOPs), redundant communication and community response mechanisms. Costa Rica has greatly increased its tsunami preparedness during the past six years, after the creation of SINAMOT (Sistema Nacional de Monitoreo de Tsunamis). SINAMOT works by characterizing the tsunami threat, encouraging, and supporting community preparedness, strengthening the existing tsunami warning SOPs and maintaining the sea level monitoring network. SINAMOT articulates with stakeholders and decision makers such as seismic monitoring networks, national and local government, emergency managers and committees. Four communities in Costa Rica have been recognized as Tsunami Ready by IOC/UNESCO, four more are recognized with pending guidelines and five more are working on fulfilling the requirements. Despite all the progress made, there is still plenty of work to do to have a safe and predictable ocean regarding tsunamis. Atypical tsunami sources are not yet incorporated in hazard assessments, there are many gaps in sea level monitoring, and capacity building is required in many aspects so that developing countries can be more autonomous in their tsunami preparedness and response. Our major challenges today worldwide are with staffing and funding, both to kick-off and to sustain the mentioned activities. Specifically, Costa Rica requires more physical oceanographers and geoscientists working on tsunami science and more funding to study the ocean (including sea level gauges and tsunami hazards assessment) to support the tsunami and other coastal hazard warning systems. This requires working together with communities and stakeholders to increase tsunami preparedness.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Large exports of land-based contaminants to the ocean exacerbate the effects of climate change, pollute ocean waters, disrupt biogeochemical cycles, harm marine organisms, and consequently jeopardise food security and the livelihoods of ocean-dependent communities. The Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) is characterised by a mix of the Atlantic Ocean basin waters, reverse flow from the Mediterranean Sea, and inland waters from adjacent countries. This biodiversity-rich ecosystem is a source of ecosystem goods and services that provide sustenance for populations in the coastal states of West Africa and beyond. However, with the ocean surface warming, ocean productivity and fisheries’ outputs have declined across multiple trophic levels. Therefore, in this diagnostic study based on a systematic literature review (publications from 2009 to 2020), we (a) provide an integrative assessment of the CCLME with the exception of Morocco, in the context of the modular large marine ecosystem framework using the categories ‘environmental’ (productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution, and ecosystem health) and ‘non-environmental’ (socioeconomic and governance), and (b) identify knowledge gaps and data scarce regions. The key drivers of change in the CCLME were identified as fishing pressure, land-based pollution, coastal habitat loss, and climate change. Productivity, land-based pollution, and ecosystem health were priority areas for data collection in the CCLME, with data deficiencies particularly apparent in The Gambia and Guinea. Therefore, to mitigate further degradation and accelerate progress toward sustainable management of the CCLME, research should be conducted in these priority areas of data deficiency. Furthermore, as most drivers of change in this ecosystem are related to weak management and a lack of regulatory enforcement, we recommend effective implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of existing national and transboundary regulations, as well as ecosystem-based human-centred management approaches, as proactive strategies for decoupling anthropogenic disturbances from climate change and optimising the productivity of the CCLME.

Resumo em Inglês:

Abstract Marine fisheries and seafood provide important economic and social benefits for communities in the Western Tropical Atlantic Region, including food security, livelihoods, and tourist activities. However, these resources have experienced a global decline due to overfishing, pollution, and warming oceans. To help halt and reverse this decline, interventions should prioritize the threats that are identified as most severe. The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) presents itself as an opportunity to enhance ocean sustainability with “A sustainably harvested and productive ocean ensuring the provision of food supply and ocean resources” as one of its seven major societal outcomes. This paper addresses the proposed research priorities identified during the workshop for the UN Decade Working Group V which agree with the findings from two previous workshops conducted during 2017 and 2019 by the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Over 300 scientists, policymakers, managers, government officials, representatives from tourism, maritime sector and communicators discussed regional priorities, and recognized the urgent need to expand stakeholder and partnership engagement. The respondents generally agreed on the major gaps within science and governance; however, managers and stakeholders view science as a critical source of information for the decision-making process. Respondents recommended that science should be inclusive of various knowledge types across sectors, including community and traditional knowledge. Furthermore, science quality assurance requires review processes that are impartial, reliable, and transparent. Ultimately, science-based management and policies require effective scientific input which must be achievable. There are good opportunities over the next decade to improve the sustainability and governance of the region’s fisheries resources. However, ensuring that fishers, resource users, civil society, and scientists work together with national and regional government resource management agencies will be the key for the development of successful governance structures overseeing these resources.