2024/05/01 by Nemer E. Narchi, Gustavo G. M. Moura, Gustavo Goulart Moreira Moura +1
Environmental Science · #Coastal and Marine Management #Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/0094582x241283774
Capitalist states are presently juggling the need for ecological sustainability and economic development.In such a light, the idea of a "blue economy" has emerged as a beacon of hope, suggesting that ocean and coastal resources can be used to drive economic growth while protecting marine ecosystems.Holding our oceans and coastlines in such a consideration, we grapple with the delicate balance between prosperity, environmental conservation, and resource utilization.Nevertheless, due to their capitalist origin, blue economy initiatives prioritize unprecedented schemes of private property and commodity production along the coast, which appears to be the last planetary frontier for capitalist expansion.This transformation entails new social relationships and a shift from customary social connections to production-oriented relationships.In this issue, we critically confront the outcomes of recent blue economy projects implemented along Latin America.These projects are aligned with a discourse highlighting the leveraging of ocean resources for sustainable growth, while allegedly tackling the intricate issues of resource exploitation, environmental degradation, and social fairness.These very waters are now framed as a tale of promise.However, history compels us to reassess our connection with the world's oceans, especially as, in our lifetimes, we are witnessing the ongoing harmful effects of capitalist ventures from the over-exploitation of bio-marine resources, such as over fishing (Ferguson-Cradler, 2021), to the large scale impacts of the climate crisis-itself the consequence of industrial capitalism and its reliance on fossil fuels.We are also now beginning to Nemer E. Narchi is an environmental anthropologist who teaches at the Colegio de Michoacán.He has been researching coastal and marine communities since 2000 and currently leads the CoLaboratories of Social Oceanography, a multi-institutional network of coastal scientists bringing social research to the center of coastal science.Narchi is a coordinating editor of Latin American Perspectives.Gustavo Goulart Moreira Moura is an oceanologist with a doctorate degree in environmental science.