Governing the ‘Blue Economy’: A network study to assess coordination patterns in the German Wadden Sea_x000D_
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Human use of the ocean is rapidly expanding as the potentials of the Blue Economy are realized. Especially the expansion of industrial activities in the marine space creates new synergies and conflicts between use forms. Governing the multiple uses in an increasingly populated ocean space manifests a severe multi-level, cross-sectoral coordination dilemma. Insights on how to improve the organization of contested governance processes in today’s multi-functional ocean landscapes are much needed to ensure sustainability. This is aimed for by this study carried out in the German North Sea, one of the world’s most intensely used marine spaces. Responsibilities for governance in the marine domain is dispersed across the decentralized political system from the local to the international level. This creates a complex « ecology of games » for organizing governance. A social-ecological network conceptualization is developed and applied to empirical data for assessing sectoral interdependencies and actor interaction. A participatory approach to causal-loop modelling is used to generate knowledge of the interplay between sectoral use forms in the German Wadden Sea. This data is combined with data from a network survey with stakeholders to gather knowledge on whom, for what purpose and how they interact with others. Multi-level Exponential Random Graph Modelling is used to analyze the interaction pattern between stakeholders in the governance process. The results reveal leverage points for adjusting the current formal and informal processes that govern the blue economy at the interface of economic development, clean(er) energy production and marine biodiversity conservation in the German Wadden Sea territory. Moreover, the findings show how actors should (re-)distribute their personal and financial resources for better navigating synergies and tradeoffs between use forms.

Philipp Gorris
Institute for Geography, Osnabrueck University & Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

 
ID Abstract: 804