Marine development should account for social impacts on coastal communities

Marine development in the UK and internationally is not currently sufficiently considering the wide range of social impacts for coastal communities, a new report finds.

The University of Exeter has completed a scoping review of evidence on the social impacts of marine sectors on coastal communities, on behalf of The Crown Estate. The review was led by Dr Pamela Buchan, an interdisciplinary marine scientist in the University of Exeter Geography Department and ACCESS Network Leadership College Fellow.

Research is dominated by efforts to generate acceptance of developments, whilst existing practices are focused on job creation, skills development, and grant giving through community benefit schemes. This is strongly influenced by a lack of regulation that requires offshore sectors to consider, evidence, and monitor social impacts at all stages of marine development, with practices such as Environmental Impact Assessment often scoping out coastal community impacts for activities taking place at sea.

The review is one of a number of evidence bases The Crown Estate is using to inform its thinking on social impact in the marine space, as well as comprising a key resource for the wider marine industry.

The study also finds wide variation in research and practice between marine sectors. Although there is more to do, offshore wind is the most heavily researched and is leading the way in social impact assessment and community participation practices, with recognition of how changes to place can impact upon community identity and cultural practices. There is very limited evidence about how offshore activities, such as subsea cabling and marine aggregate extraction, impact coastal communities. Ports are not being recognised for their key role in marine industries and the potential social impacts from infrastructure changes that will arise from green industrialisation.

The report identified that overall marine decision-making processes need revision to better recognise the pillars of social justice:

1. Recognition of coastal communities and wider society as stakeholders in marine development, and the potential conflict between the wider societal benefit and more local place-based impacts.
2. Procedural participation of stakeholders to enable better understanding of potential impacts and identification of alternative plans, and to fulfil the UN Human Right to participate in environmental decision-making in the marine context.
3. Distribution of benefits and negative impacts in a fairer way that goes beyond the current narrow set of social impacts relating to some socio-economic outcomes.

The report gives a substantial set of recommendations aimed at research, specific marine sectors, and company level actions and regulation. It calls for systematic review of social impact assessment across marine sectors.