Abstract
Overuse and destructive use as a result of dilemmas of collective action are major causes that accelerate destruction of marine ecosystems all over the world. This puts also at risk the food security of local communities dependent on these ecosystem’s goods and services. Since the 1980s, studies about common property highlight local communities and self-governed institutions, in which the rules have been developed and enforced by the resource users themselves, as crucial for the success to conserve and sustainably use natural resources. In the 1990s, national governments of many developing countries enacted legislation that decentralised and devolved authorities for natural resource governance to the local level. When consequently implemented, this has strengthened existing institutional arrangements for the communal local governance and promoted the emergence of new ones.
I analysed variances of different framework regimes for sustainable coral reef governance in rural Palawan (Philippines) and found an increasing number of impacts driven by higher levels that cannot be controlled locally. Unprecedented pressures are caused by the integration of local economies in national and international markets in combination with an unequal distribution of wealth and power. This trend will continue in the Philippines and elsewhere with increasing globalisation. National governments and international organisations actively aggravate the situation when pursuing contradictory policies: greater local autonomy on the one hand and liberalising trade policies for marine resources on the other hand.
My paper focuses on coastal and fisheries trade policies of the European Union, particular with regard to the WTO, and analyses possible impacts on marine ecosystems, food security and institutions for the self-governance of coastal communities.
I also see a huge potential for IDGEC’s New Directions in the field of oceanic systems. Therefore, I propose to organise a special session on “Decentralisation and Global Trade of Marine Resources” at the Synthesis Conference as part of the Extended IDGEC Framework on Trade and Environment. Such a session could produce initial steps to develop an agenda for a collaborative research project which focuses on institutions that regulate the globalisation of trade and how they interplay with local, national and international regimes for (sustainable) coastal and fisheries governance in both developing and developed countries of different regions.
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