History matters: Societal acceptance of deep-sea mining and incipient conflicts in Papua New Guinea
- Authors: van Putten, Ingrid , Aswani, Shankar , Boonstra, W.J , De la Cruz-Modino, R , Das, Jewel , Glaser, Marion , Heck, Nadine , Narayan, Siddharth , Paytan, Adina , Selim, Samiya , Vave, Ron
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391453 , vital:68653 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-023-00318-0"
- Description: New marine industries that develop and grow in response to the changing demand for their products have the potential to exert pressure on fragile marine environments. These emerging industries can benefit local communities but equally can have negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts. The development of new and emerging industries, like deep seabed mining (DSM), requires the acceptance and involvement of local communities. Yet, the history of marine exploitation is imbued with conflicts between industries and local communities. This paper presents a DSM case study in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to stimulate debate around the potential for conflict in the pursuit of resource extraction from the deep sea and the social and environmental harm that these extractions can cause. We do so by first presenting a timeline of local and extra-local events and enabling conditions that form the development background for the DSM Solwara 1 project in PNG. We then undertake a media narrative analysis to consider the contribution of aspects of social acceptability to this highly complex and multi-scale conflict. We find that the lack of (or a decrease in) social acceptability contributed to the conflict situation and ultimately the demise of the Solwara 1 project. Extra-locally, the initial development was positively framed around solutions for decarbonisation using new technology. Over time, actions by international NGOs, financial issues related to foreign companies, and asymmetry in the power balance between the Pacific Island nation and global businesses played a role in growing negative perceptions of acceptability. Historical experiences with prior environmental mining disasters, together with sea tenure governance challenges, and a lack of community and stakeholder acceptance also contributed to the demise of the project. Untangling and debating these complex interactions provides context and reasons for the tension between the lack of societal acceptance at a local scale and the perceived need for DSM products in the global North for innovative technologies and decarbonising societies. Better understanding these interactions and tensions can help emerging industries navigate a future blue economy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Tools to enrich vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning for coastal communities in data-poor regions: application to a case study in Madagascar
- Authors: Cochrane, Kevern L , Rakotondrazafy, H , Aswani, Shankar , Chaigneau, Tomas , Downey-Breedt, Nicola , Lemahieu, Anne , Paytan, Adina , Pecl, Gretta T , Plagányi, Éva , Popova, Elizaveta , Van Putten, Ingrid E , Sauer, Warwick H H , Byfield, Val , Gasalla, Maria A , Van Gennip, Simon J , Malherbe, Willem , Rabary, Andriantsilavo , Rabeariso, Ando , Ramaroson, N , Randrianarimanana, V , Scott, Lucy E P , Tsimanaoraty, P M
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145347 , vital:38430 , DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00505
- Description: Here we describe an interdisciplinary and multi-country initiative to develop rapid, participatory methods to assess the vulnerability of coastal communities and facilitate adaptation to climate change in data-poor regions. The methods were applied in Madagascar as a case study. The initiative centered on an exploratory research exercise in two communities in the south-west of Madagascar, a workshop held in Antananarivo in June 2016, combined with a component on communicating ocean science and climate change to stakeholders. It utilized innovative and rapid approaches to combine global and local skills and information on adaptation and resilience building, taking cognizance of national policies, and was based on the principles of a holistic, integrated and participatory approach. This paper summarizes the activities undertaken and assesses how effective they were in achieving the project goals, as well as presenting examples of the outputs obtained.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Planning adaptation to climate change in fast-warming marine regions with seafood-dependent coastal communities
- Authors: Hobday, Alistair J , Cochrane, Kevern L , Howard, James , Aswani, Shankar , Byfield, Val , Duggan, Greg , Duna, Elethu , Dutra, Leo X C , Frusher, Stewart D , Fulton, Elizabeth A , Gammage, Louise , Gasalla, Maria A , Griffiths, Chevon , Guissamulo, Almeida , Haward, Marcus , Jarre, Astrid , Jennings, Sarah M , Jordan, Tia , Joyner, Jessica , Ramani, Narayana K , Shanmugasundaram, Swathi L P , Malherbe, Willem , Ortega-Cisneros, Kelly , Paytan, Adina , Pecl, Gretta T , Plagányi, Éva E , Popova, Ekaterina E , Razafindrainibe, Haja , Roberts, Michael J , Rohit, Prathiba , Sainulabdeen, Shyam S , Sauer, Warwick H H , Valappil, Sathianandan T , Zacharia, Paryiappanal U , Van Putten, E Ingrid
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/125675 , vital:35806 , https://doi.10.1007/s11160-016-9419-0
- Description: Many coastal communities rely on living marine resources for livelihoods and food security. These resources are commonly under stress from overfishing, pollution, coastal development and habitat degradation. Climate change is an additional stressor beginning to impact coastal systems and communities, but may also lead to opportunities for some species and the people they sustain. We describe the research approach for a multi-country project, focused on the southern hemisphere, designed to contribute to improving fishing community adaptation efforts by characterizing, assessing and predicting the future of coastal-marine food resources, and codeveloping adaptation options through the provision and sharing of knowledge across fast-warming marine regions (i.e. marine ‘hotspots’). These hotspots represent natural laboratories for observing change and concomitant human adaptive responses, and for developing adaptation options and management strategies. Focusing on adaptation options and strategies for enhancing coastal resilience at the local level will contribute to capacity building and local empowerment in order to minimise negative outcomes and take advantage of opportunities arising from climate change. However, developing comparative approaches across regions that differ in political institutions, socio-economic community demographics, resource dependency and research capacity is challenging. Here, we describe physical, biological, social and governance tools to allow hotspot comparisons, and several methods to evaluate and enhance interactions within a multi-nation research team. Strong partnerships within and between the focal regions are critical to scientific and political support for development of effective approaches to reduce future vulnerability. Comparing these hotspot regions will enhance local adaptation responses and generate outcomes applicable to other regions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The GULLS project: a comparison of vulnerabilities across selected ocean hotspots and implications for adaptation to global change
- Authors: Cochrane, Kevern L , Hobday, Alistair J , Aswani, Shankar , Byfield, Val , Dutra, Leo X C , Gasalla, Maria A , Haward, Marcus , Paytan, Adina , Pecl, Gretta T , Popova, Katya , Sainulabdeen, Shyam S , Savage, Candida , Sauer, Warwick H H , van Putten, Ingrid E , Visser, Natascha , TG Team
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422037 , vital:71906
- Description: The GULLS project, `Global learning for local solutions: Reducing vulnerability of marine-dependent coastal communities' has been underway since October 2014. The project has been investigating six regional `hotspots': marine areas experiencing rapid warming. These are south-east Australia, Brazil, India, Solomon Islands, South Africa, and the Mozambique Channel and Madagascar. Rapid warming could be expected to have social, cultural and economic impacts that could affect these countries in different ways and may already be doing so. GULLS has focused on contributing to assessing and reducing the vulnerability of coastal communities and other stakeholders dependent on marine resources and to facilitate adaptation to climate change and variability through an integrated and trans-disciplinary approach. It includes participants from Australia, Brazil, India, Madagascar, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The research programme has been divided into six inter-linked components: ocean models, biological and ecological sensitivity analyses, system models, social vulnerability, policy mapping, and communication and education. This presentation will provide a brief overview of each of these components and describe the benefits that have resulted from the collaborative and transdisciplinary approach of GULLS. Following the standard vulnerability elements of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, the vulnerabilities of coastal communities and other stakeholders dependent on marine resources in the five hotspots will be compared using a set of indicators derived and populated from results of the research programme. The implications of similarities and differences between the hotspots for adaptation planning and options will be described.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016