MARE conference People and the Sea XIII
Dates: 24-27 June 2025
Conference theme: Tensions, Trade-offs, and Transformations for the Ocean Decade and beyond
This year’s conference focuses on the balance between tensions, trade-offs, and the potential transformations required for the future of sustainable marine resource management and governance, thriving coastal livelihoods and healthy, biodiverse oceans. The conference takes place right in the middle of the Ocean decade (2020-2030) and MARE seizes the opportunity to reflect on where we currently stand using the ‘People and the Sea’ lens. Climate change and the increase(d) (of) activities are profoundly shaping the health and functioning of our seas and oceans and thus of our global wellbeing. Although our current understanding of the marine social-ecological system and the impacts of human uses grows, available space(s) decline(s), urging policy makers to make necessary trade-offs. Also insights, access, impacts and capabilities are unevenly distributed resulting in tensions across social, economic, and political dimensions. All of this asks for transformation, yet the kind of transformation is debated because we can’t agree on ‘the ocean we want’.
MARE invites participants to contribute to the four sub-themes of this conference mentioned below. The bullets below the sub themes serve as inspiration for contributors. With all contributions related to these themes we can take stock of the current social scientific understanding of where we stand. These contributions can be about a range of sectors including fisheries (small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, etc), nature-protection and restoration/conservation, tourism, shipping, energy production or other human activities at sea, and cover themes such as governance, required knowledge(s), power and politics, livelihoods and culture, and values and norms. Inter- and transdisciplinary contributions are more than welcome. During the conference, building on all contributions we will reflect on what social scientific knowledge is needed for the second part of the UN Ocean Decade and beyond. As such MARE wishes to co-construct the ‘science we need for the ocean we want’.
Subthemes:
- Tensions on Ocean Spaces and Coastal Communities
- Examining conflicts arising from competing interests (e.g., fishing, tourism, conservation) in coastal areas and open ocean (e.g. ‘energy islands’ in Denmark, renewable energy projects in general)
- Understanding social resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of change, including justice and equity.
- Which processes and or methods help resolve tensions and direct towards solutions?
- How are marine geopolitical tensions impacting coastal communities and (governance of) activities?
- Mobilities vs boundaries; understanding ‘place’ in changing environments
- Are we progressing after years of discussing equity and human rights…i.e. Or is it just more ‘blue’ buzzwords?
- Change often produces tension, but can tensions also be positive? (Tensions for positive change?)
- Who are potential winners and losers in the future blue economy? (Class analysis, Maritime labor and human rights, political economy lens)
- Trade-offs in Blue Economy Development
- Assessing the costs and benefits of marine resource exploitation
- How do we measure value(s)?
- Cumulative assessments of impacts (economic, ecological, social, institutional)
- Balancing economic growth, social wellbeing and ecological integrity
- The growth or degrowth, what is the (blue) economy we need? Exploring growth, degrowth and post-growth in the blue economy.
- Exploring the equitable distribution of benefits and externalities.
- Methodological reflections: the answers we produce are dependent on the methods we choose
- Transformations for Ocean Governance
- Innovations in marine policy, governance, and management.
- Case studies of successful transformations toward sustainability.
- Marine protected areas and OECMs
- Ecosystem based management / Social ecological systems
- Integrating indigenous knowledge and local practices.
- The chicken and the egg: do we need to transform marine governance or will marine governance guide the ocean uses’ transformations?
- Ocean governance transformations through a Commons lens
- Contested Knowledge Production for the Ocean Decade
- Whose knowledge counts? Exploring the politics of knowledge in blue spaces.
- Exploring new epistemologies
- Ocean literacy: how to get everyone on board?
- Co-production of knowledge
- Single, inter-, multi-, trans- or un-disciplinary approaches: what do we need and when?
- Feminist and intersectional perspectives
MARE Policy Day
Date: June 23rd, 2025
Location: Amsterdam
Ports have for centuries made a major contribution to the development of society. Many cities around the world originated as fishing villages and later developed into metropoles – an example from Europe is Amsterdam, which started as a small fishing settlement in the 12th century. Historically space around such early settlements was almost unlimited allowing for a transition from fishing-based occupation into vibrant merchant and production hubs generating income for thousands if not millions of people. This development formed the basis for modern society as we know it.
Ports have facilitated the growth of major cities and attracted people and enterprises, creating a complex economic and social system in their vicinity. This coexistence has been challenged over the past decades. The purpose of the MARE policy day is to zoom in and focus on the challenges for ports in the North Sea and its hinterlands, where the fight for space is increasing and causing dilemmas and implications for people working in the surrounding port areas.
The policy day will be organized around three themes, or dilemmas:
The first is the development of residential housing at the waterfront. Real estate development is pushing port activities out of city centers as the value of the land is many times higher for residential or office use than for port activities. Furthermore, port activities generate noise and dust further hindering coexistence.
The second is that cruise ship tourism has taken off, oftentimes in addition to the growth of regular coastal city trips, resulting in problems of mass and over-tourism. When large cruise ships are calling ports with thousands of passengers that go ashore simultaneously and occupy city space, they are nowadays often viewed as invaders.
The third is that ports are key to facilitating the energy transition both in terms of transport and in terms of production. They are vital in fulfilling the Ostend Declaration of Energy reaching 120 GW by 2030 and 300 GW in 2050 from offshore wind parks and production of green fuels (Power-to-X). These energy hubs have unique safety and security requirements.
The objective for the MARE Port Policy Day is contribute to a better alignment of port policies to meet present challenges and dealing with dilemmas, such as the ones above. This calls for discussions and critical reflection on how to strike appropriate balances between different request for space. We intend to bring together industry representatives, policy makers and (social) scientists to address the above challenges and find ways to mediate conflicts balancing the spatial and socio-economic impacts related to port activities and development. We aim to further a process of co-creation and collaborative planning inspiring future research support decision-making and port governance.
Conference contributions
The MARE Conference will – as always – take place at the campus of the University of Amsterdam in Amsterdam, with the dinner again taking place at the monumental Dominicus church. It is possible for people who cannot travel to the conference, to observe all conference sessions. However, to present a paper at the MARE conference, the participant must be physically present in Amsterdam.
Next to ideas for papers or posters (max 300 word abstracts), we encourage panel proposals with innovative formats that stimulate interaction and dynamism such as roundtables, workshops, brainstorm sessions, debates, or documentary film screenings with discussion. The submission of pre-arranged panels (max six presenters) are also welcomed. Should you have less than 6 presenters, the conference organizers might find additional presenters from individual paper proposals that fit the panel. For more traditional paper-based panels, we encourage thorough discussion of presented papers, for example by including discussants or by peer reviewing each other’s papers. Please note that sessions will be 1.5 hours long and that participants may submit only one lead-authored paper proposal (although they may initiate or be second author in other kinds of proposals).
Deadline for contributions:
31st of January 2025 via the conference system, which will be announced.
Paper and poster abstracts
Abstracts should clearly state:
• Author(s) name
• Author(s) affiliation
• Author email address for correspondence
• The conference stream to which the paper relates
• Indicate if it is a paper or poster
Abstracts should be less than 300 words in length (please do not use abbreviations or cite references in the abstract) and include up to 5 keywords representing the main content.
Pre-arranged Panel proposals
Panel proposals should clearly state:
• The name, affiliation, and email address of the panel organizer
• A brief (max one A4 page or 500 words) panel abstract and up to five keywords
• The proposed paper titles, abstracts, authors (and their affiliations) to be included in the panel (if available)
• The conference stream to which the panel relates
Panel proposals should not be longer than one A4 page or 500 words.
Alternative format panel proposals
Panel proposals should clearly state:
• The name, affiliation, and email address of the panel organizer
• A brief (max one A4 page or 500 words) panel abstract and up to five keywords
• The proposed format of the session
• The conference stream to which the panel possibly relates
Please find a list of suggestions for alternative panel formats here.
Panels and individual submissions should be submitted electronically. This will be done via the virtual conference platform, with specific details on the submission process coming soon.
Visit www.marecentre.nl or contact info@marecentre.nl for further details and updates.
