Marine communities : governing oil & gas activities and cruise tourism in the Arctic and the Caribbean

• Main Author: Bets, Linde K.J.
• Other Authors: van Tatenhove, J.P.M., Mol, A.P.J., Lamers, M.A.J.
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Wageningen University 2017
• Subjects: arctic ocean; arctic regions; caribbean; caribbean sea; environmental policy; governance; international tourism; marine areas; marine environment; oil and gas industry; oil spills; pollution by tourism; tourism impact; water pollution; arctische gebieden; caribisch gebied; caribische zee; impact van toerisme; internationaal toerisme; marien milieu; mariene gebieden; milieubeleid; noordelijke ijszee; olie- en gasindustrie; olieverontreinigingen; verontreiniging door toerisme; waterverontreiniging; Arctic; Arctic Ocean
• Online Access: https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/marine-communities-governing-oil-amp-gas-activities-and-cruise-to; https://doi.org/10.18174/420861

Oceans and seas are among the most ecologically vital and socio-economically important systems on the planet. Despite the acknowledged pristine nature of the marine environment, there is a growing interest in exploring the sea for human use such as offshore wind production, extraction of sand, oil and gas, deep sea mining, gene mining and aquaculture. This is the result of, among other things, the food and energy needs of the growing world population, globalisation processes and technological innovation. This intensified use of the sea has led to new governance initiatives to address the resulting environmental effects and risks for the marine environment. Actors involved in governing maritime activities are not necessarily located in the same geographical place and may not even be in direct contact, but they increasingly interact through global and transnational institutions or networks. Globalisation results in communities characterised by the interplay between territorially defined actors (e.g. national states, port agencies and island communities) and less territorially defined actors (e.g. mobile and transnational industries). The community literature conceptualises communities as small spatial units, homogenous social structures or sets of shared norms. These conceptualisation of communities provide insufficient insights in the type of community involved in environmental governance of maritime activities. This thesis, therefore, presents the marine community concept as a new analytical lens for studying environmental governance of maritime activities. A marine community is a community of socio-economic and policy actors and institutions organised around a certain maritime activity that influences or will be affected by the (marine) ecosystem in which the activity occurs. The aim of this PhD thesis is twofold: first, to understand environmental governance of maritime activities by different marine communities, and second, to understand how different governance modes, shifts, styles and processes affect the ...