[Call for Papers] Earth System Governance - S.O.S. - Science for Ocean Sustainability

[Leandra Regina Gonçalves]

Dear all:

You are invited to contribute to an upcoming Special Issue of Earth System Governance, aligned with the Earth System Governance Science Plan, and to produce a social science contribution to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Leandra R. Gonçalves (University of São Paulo), Candace K. May (South Dakota State University) and DG Webster (Dartmouth) will serve as guest editors.

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will take place between 2021 and 2030 (https://oceandecade.org/). The Ocean Decade offers a framework to strengthen connections and weave partnerships between all communities working to study, conserve and sustainably use the ocean and its resources. The Decade will boost scientific research and innovative technologies to ensure science responds to the needs of society. In other words, the Ocean Decade intends to produce “the science we need for the ocean we want”.

The special issue will seek to address the ten Ocean Decade challenges, and provide a reflection within the Earth System Governance perspective. The UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), coordinates the design and preparation of a Decade Implementation Plan, to define a set of high-level scientific and technological advances, necessary to achieve seven desired results: a clean ocean; a healthy and resilient ocean; a predictable ocean, sustainable and productive ocean; transparent and accessible ocean; and known and valued by all. Thus, “The Science We Need for the Ocean We Want” is expected to be built in a cooperative, systemic and integrated manner. The entire oceanic community is faced with a historic opportunity to join forces, mobilize resources, establish partnerships with the private sector and the general public, and involve governments and international organizations towards the “Ocean we need for the future we want”, without leaving anyone behind.

The main motivation for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development is to unite efforts by all disciplines and views related to the sea to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health and create better conditions for achieving sustainable development. For that, science-based adaptation strategies and policy decisions are essential. The Decade is an inclusive, participatory and global process that respects local realities for building a sustainable future, which makes essential contributions from the Global North and South.

Thus, we invite you to engage with the ocean governance taskforce, and collaboratively propose interdisciplinary papers that provide inputs to the key issues requiring a focus (current status and trends), key science and capacity development needs (gaps, challenges, and opportunities), and recommendations (pathways for solutions and cross-cutting priorities) for the science-policy agenda to achieve the Ocean Decade outcomes and face its challenges.

The Earth System Governance project’s latest research framework presents a number of themes relevant to this task, including Democracy & Power, Architecture & Agency, Justice & Allocation, Anticipation & Imagination, and Adaptiveness & Flexibility (see Burch et al. 2019). With these research lenses in mind, this Special Issue seeks to attract previously unpublished work that addresses the challenges for ocean governance from an Earth System Governance perspective. Submissions may take the form of Perspectives of 2-4k words, Reviews of up to 12k words, and Research Articles of 8-10k words (see explanations here). Theoretical, empirical, critical, and summative papers are all welcome. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

- The Ocean Decade Challenges from a social science perspective

- The governance of ocean decade

- Just and Inclusive transition to a blue economy

- Fisheries, Ports, Mining - planning the future of blue economy

- Gender and Ocean Governance

- Actors in the ocean arena

- Coastal Livelihoods and Adaptation

- Place-Based Community Vulnerabilities and Responses

- Local to Global and Regional Networks

If you are interested in contributing to this Special Issue, please be aware that the journal system will be open to receive contributions from 25th of June of 2021. Full manuscripts will be due by 25th October 2021. The Special Issue is slated for online publication by 8th June 2022. All articles will be subject to double-blind, peer review. The editorial staff places a high priority on obtaining submissions from authors representing diverse backgrounds (i.e. in terms of gender, region, seniority).

Best Regards

Leandra  R Goncalves
goncalve...@gmail.com

Pesquisadora Pós-doc/Postdoctoral researcher
Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha - LabManejo
Instituto Oceanográfico da Universidade de São Paulo

Twitter: @lelegoncalves