Blockchain Papers

Jewel Das, Maheshwaran Govender, Haseeb Md. Irfanullah, Samiya Ahmed Selim · 5 authors

The ‘Ocean Decade’ focuses on ocean governance and management including ocean health and human well-being in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Here, we use participatory network mapping to investigate perceptions of Blue Economy governance networks in Bangladesh. Representatives of four Blue Economy stakeholder categories (government, researchers, private sector and civil society, and non-governmental organizations) mapped who they perceived as Blue Economy actors and the relationships between these actors. The resulting “netmaps” highlight 83 actors and diverse perceptions of the composition, structure and dynamic of Blue Economy governance. Relations between governance actors were categorized as formal command, information and support, funding, and competition or obstruction. Information and support, followed by funding were the most frequently perceived Blue Economy governance interactions. The centrality and influence of government actors at different levels, the role of international agencies, and the marginalization of coastal resource users and communities emerged as key themes. A narrow view of the Blue Economy was found; this focused on fisheries, tourism, and shipping sectors indicating a risk of non-inclusive development. We find that Bangladesh’s Blue Economy governance needs to be more inclusive, collaborative, and decentralized and mainstream marginal actors, while carefully considering international actors’ motivations, roles and influence. We propose ‘blue equity’ to guide a holistic approach to Blue Economy governance which aims for a ‘Community of Practice on Blue Economy Governance’. In Bangladesh, such a policy shift requires an effective Blue Economy Cell of the Government that supports knowledge and capacity building, innovative financing, and research-guided policy.

Sierra Ison, Jeremy Hills, Cherie W. Morris, Selina M. Stead

Marine Protected Areas (MPA) are mostly studied from an environmental context. A review of available information identified a lack of knowledge in sustainable mechanisms to finance MPA networks. At the United Nations Ocean Conference in 2017, Fiji reaffirmed its voluntary commitment to make 30% of its inshore and offshore marine area MPAs by 2020 under Sustainable Development Goal 14. The work presented here uses empirical data to explore potential benefits from selected community-based MPAs to recipient local stakeholders. A Willingness to Pay (WTP) and Willingness to Contribute Time (WtCT) method was used to explore the extent to which bottom-up governance systems represent a potential financing mechanism of a MPA network. Results of 115 interviews concluded that proximity to a fishing market, dependence on marine resources, food security, income and international commitments were significant variables influencing stakeholder's WTP and WtCT to manage a MPA. We argue that there is a discrepancy between WtCT and WTP driven by income constraints. Thus, by using WTP and WtCT to support financing of a MPA network, a Provincial Trust Fund (PTF) could promote an equitable and benefits-based contribution. Equally important, a PTF has a polycentric and decentralized governance model, which endorses sustainable management of traditional fishing communities. The conclusions provide insight into a bottom-up approach for long-term financial sustainability of Fiji's national MPA commitments.