WP5 - Ecosystem services, governance & geopolitical dimensions

Leaders: Manuel Bellanger (Ifremer) & Thomas Van Rensburg (U Galway)

WP5 will set a transdisciplinary approach to address the economic, legal, political, and geopolitical dimensions of deep-sea ecosystem conservation and restoration and engage the project with stakeholders.

This WP will implement an interdisciplinary framework to integrate knowledge produced in WPs 2-4 in order to compare conservation and restoration options under differing institutional regimes, including  management tools (e.g. biodiversity offsets, marine protected areas, environmental conditionality), governance arrangements (e.g. participatory, top-down, market, hybrid), and organizations (e.g. ISA, UN,  NGOs). An analysis of the governance of the deep sea will be conducted to identify and assess potential institutional arrangements for implementing efficient restoration and conservation strategies in relation to the  broader institutional environment, including current discussions within the ISA and negotiations around the  BBNJ agreement, and mining prospects as set by research and industry. The analysis of the feasibility and durability of these alternative governance arrangements will consider the diversity of stakeholder objectives, power dynamics, as well as coordination (regulatory, political) and funding (private and public) mechanisms.  Interactions with dedicated industry, NGOs and policy fora will be developed to build the different components  of the research and to share its outcomes. 

Partners involved

UBO-AMURE, USevilla, NUIG, Ifremer, IMAR, UGent, NIOZ, UNIS, UAVR, UALG, UiB