TY - JOUR
T1 - Stakeholder Perspectives on Opportunities and Challenges in Achieving Sustainable Growth of the Blue Economy in a Changing Climate
AU - Hoerterer, Christina
AU - Schupp, Maximilian F.
AU - Benkens, Andreas
AU - Nickiewicz, Dustin
AU - Krause, Gesche
AU - Buck, Bela H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The projects “Biodiversity and Climate Change: Impacts on Local Stakeholder on the North Sea Coast” (BioDiv; grant no. PAGESKP077) and “Blue Growth in a Changing Environment” (BlueChange; grant no. IP80770003) were funded under the umbrella of the “Earth System Knowledge Platform (ESKP)” Call for Tender at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. The “Earth System Knowledge Platform (ESKP)” is the knowledge platform of the Research Field Earth and Environment of the Helmholtz Association. It centers around knowledge transfer between science and society. The first workshop (WS1) with a broad audience was endorsed by the “European Maritime Day 2016.”
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Hoerterer, Schupp, Benkens, Nickiewicz, Krause and Buck.
PY - 2020/1/14
Y1 - 2020/1/14
N2 - Coastal marine environments provide livelihoods as billions of people around the world depend greatly on sustainability efforts in the Blue Economy. In this study, we investigated how stakeholders from important Blue Economy sectors along the German North Sea coast perceive the impacts of climate change on their daily work life and the growth of the Blue Economy. In a two-stage approach we first conducted two stakeholder workshops with representatives from the regional sea food sector, science, NGOs and local authorities, in order to identify important issues linked to climate change affecting environment, society, economy and policy. In the second stage, we conducted semi-structured interviews with key knowledge holders from the Blue Economy, to evaluate and validate the most important issues identified during the first stage, and the impacts on the respective sectors. The workshop participants identified perceptible effects of climate change on their marine environment. Early career scientists showed that they possess a clear focus on measures for climate change adaptation, transdisciplinary approaches and knowledge transfer. The interviews revealed that the climate change effects could be perceived as both negative and positive, depending on the sector. Other issues, especially political decisions and developments are perceived to have a greater immediate impact on the Blue Economy than the slow progress of climate change effects. Additionally, increased human activities, in the form of new or intensified uses like marine renewable energy generation, have a greater influence and lead to conflicts between the Blue Economy sectors. Our study showed that economic and societal stakeholders in Germanys North Sea region are aware of climate change and already perceive its effects on their businesses. Synergies and conflicts between the sectors and political decisions might influence sustainable growth of the Blue Economy in highly contested regions, such as the North Sea basin, much stronger than the effects of climate change. This calls for a more flexible and adaptive approach to policymaking, taking into account the changing environmental, social and economic realities.
AB - Coastal marine environments provide livelihoods as billions of people around the world depend greatly on sustainability efforts in the Blue Economy. In this study, we investigated how stakeholders from important Blue Economy sectors along the German North Sea coast perceive the impacts of climate change on their daily work life and the growth of the Blue Economy. In a two-stage approach we first conducted two stakeholder workshops with representatives from the regional sea food sector, science, NGOs and local authorities, in order to identify important issues linked to climate change affecting environment, society, economy and policy. In the second stage, we conducted semi-structured interviews with key knowledge holders from the Blue Economy, to evaluate and validate the most important issues identified during the first stage, and the impacts on the respective sectors. The workshop participants identified perceptible effects of climate change on their marine environment. Early career scientists showed that they possess a clear focus on measures for climate change adaptation, transdisciplinary approaches and knowledge transfer. The interviews revealed that the climate change effects could be perceived as both negative and positive, depending on the sector. Other issues, especially political decisions and developments are perceived to have a greater immediate impact on the Blue Economy than the slow progress of climate change effects. Additionally, increased human activities, in the form of new or intensified uses like marine renewable energy generation, have a greater influence and lead to conflicts between the Blue Economy sectors. Our study showed that economic and societal stakeholders in Germanys North Sea region are aware of climate change and already perceive its effects on their businesses. Synergies and conflicts between the sectors and political decisions might influence sustainable growth of the Blue Economy in highly contested regions, such as the North Sea basin, much stronger than the effects of climate change. This calls for a more flexible and adaptive approach to policymaking, taking into account the changing environmental, social and economic realities.
KW - adaptation
KW - aquaculture
KW - blue growth
KW - fisheries
KW - North Sea
KW - seafood
KW - tourism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078802708&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2019.00795
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2019.00795
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85078802708
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 6
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
M1 - 795
ER -