Foresight 3. Participatory governance

Background

  • The management of fisheries, aquaculture and other uses of the ocean is changing. Marine activities are being governed by evolving domestic policies and international agreements that require ‘ecosystem-based’ and ‘integrated’ management approaches, there is increasing market (and general public) pressure for certification of sustainability and ‘social license’, and there is need for management that can anticipate and adapt to ecosystem and governance change.
  • While international agreements and legislation in most jurisdictions call for incorporation of four pillars of sustainability, the practical integration of ecological, economic, social and institutional aspects of science and management has been slow. As a result, nations are failing to achieve the aspirations of ecosystem-based and integrated management legislation and policies.
  • The need for an effective management and research structure poses a great challenge for science, for governments and for industries. Although there is increasing interest in research communities to adopt interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary approaches, the progress in research and especially in management is slow.
  • Recent research publications have focused on three key impediments: a relative lack of explicit social, economic and institutional objectives; a general lack of process (frameworks, governance) for routine integration of all four pillars of sustainability; and assessment and management processes that are biased towards biological considerations. The practical integration of ecological, economic, social and institutional aspects requires a ‘systems’ approach with explicit consideration of strategic and operational aspects of management: multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary evaluations; practical objectives for the four pillars of sustainability; appropriate participation; and a governance system that is able to integrate these diverse considerations in management (See for example Stephenson et al 2017).
  • While it is tempting to propose that silos be broken down (and there has been proliferation of interdisciplinary training at undergraduate and Masters programs), that risks losing the critical disciplinary expertise represented by silos. There is a need to transform our silos to facilitate effective interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary studies and participatory governance structures as standard practice.
  • In Australia, well publicized political, social and conservation campaigns such as the response to large offshore trawlers, Carmichael mine and Port Abbot Expansion, UNESCO monitoring GBR ‘in danger’ listing and World heritage status, resource exploration in the Great Australian Bight, aquaculture in Macquarie Harbour and white spot Prawn disease (see references), are challenging current governance practices and could be the catalyst for a rapid restructuring of regulatory and governance protocols.

Scenario

  • A rapid introduction of interdisciplinary governance as a result of political, social and conservation campaigns that highlight the failures of current governance
  • Government suddenly imposes more integrated, participatory structures (political shift to where info must be sent to public too)
  • There is a broader range of recognized ‘stakeholders’ – we have to get better at working with conservation groups that are less objective in their approaches and philosophy
  • Major decisions are routinely put to national or state referenda for public approval
  • The research community finds itself involved in different processes, wrestling with maintaining credibility, and needs to catch up

Indicators: How would we know this was “starting to happen”?

  1. Public activism leads to political interference that over-rides established scientific approval processes for marine resources (fisheries, oil and gas, ports etc) at least twice per year.
  2. An anti-industry, truly Green, agenda wins in national elections
  3. Australia faces international sanction related to poor performance in marine sustainability
  4. Research agencies are merged in order to facilitate stakeholder involvement for fisheries and other marine resources.
  5. Government departments are merged in order to facilitate stakeholder involvement for fisheries and other marine resources.
  6. Major national initiative to control marine pollution is implemented (specifically plastics)
  7. Major scientific journals demand a video clip for each accepted paper.

Scoring of indicators

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