The Human Relationship with Our Ocean Planet

Focusing on the institutions that affect access and rights, this paper addresses concerns about the appropriation of marine resources and displacement of indigenous visions for ocean governance by identifying ways these culturally distinct institutions are compatible and charting a path toward inclusive ocean governance.

‘The Human Relationship with Our Ocean Planet’ launched through a webinar on 8 September 2020. The event was moderated by Heather Koldewey, National Geographic Fellow, and featured speakers Taholo Kami, Special Representative for Oceans and Sherpa to Fiji on the Ocean Panel, alongside authors Eddie Allison, John Kurien and Nireka Weeratunge, as well as panellist Sophie Benbow.

CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) published a blog post entitled ‘Diving Into Diverse Human-Ocean Relationships Bares the Base of a Fair Blue Economy’ by Blue Paper authors Eddie Allison and John Kurien.

In addition, Blue Paper author Nireka Weeratunge published a blog post, ‘What Has the Ocean Ever Done for Us? Humanizing the Sustainable Ocean Economy Narrative’ in WRI Insights.

The lead authors of this paper are Edward H. Allison, John Kurien and Yoshitaka Ota. Contributing authors include Dedi S. Adhuri, J. Maarten Bavinck, Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, Michael Fabinyi, Svein Jentoft, Sallie Lau, Tabitha Grace Mallory, Ayodeji Olukoju, Ingrid van Putten, Natasha Stacey, Michelle Voyer and Nireka Weeratunge.