The Covid-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the relationship people around the world have with the ocean. As lockdowns eased, people fl...
The Covid-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the relationship people around the world have with the ocean.
As lockdowns eased, people flocked to the seashore and the beaches as the oceans’ appeal to the inner stirrings of both body and soul became more pronounced.
The pandemic also brought to attention the important role that small-scale fisheries and local value chains play in our fish food systems. When global value chains faltered, retailers and consumers turned to the local fleets and supply chains. These value chains, once dismissed as inefficient and unsuited to modernity, have come to our rescue.
But the inequities of access to the ocean continue starkly.
Our coasts have been victims of creeping privatisation for numerous economic activities leading to excess pollution of the ocean and coastal groundwater, destruction of coastal vegetation and transgressing into the common spaces of the coast and the littorals.
In tropical regions, ocean infrastructure has resulted in untold erosion of sandy coasts.
With all this, the pandemic has strongly served up the message that all those who earn their livelihoods from the ocean (ocean citizens) and all the others (ocean supporters) must collaborate to ensure ocean health and ocean access.
The pandemic proved why the governance of the ocean is the collective responsibility of humanity.
Blue economy thinking
Currently, discussions about...
