A dynamic session co-organized by COST Action RethinkBlue members Silvia Gomez Mestre and Irmak Ertör brought together researchers and participants to discuss justice, equity, and new paradigms in the blue economy.
The Session “New paradigms to address the blue economy: shifting horizons in approaching justice and equity” formed part of the Mare Conference, entitled People and the Sea, earlier this year.
The event featured five thought-provoking presentations covering a range of themes — from engaged blue economy research (Miquel Ortega), shipbreaking and waste production (Irmak Ertör and Ekinsu Devrim Danış), and small-scale fisheries governance models linked to blue degrowth (Embla Ekström), to policy incoherencies in EU marine governance (Maria Hadjimichael, Paulina Ramirez-Monsalve, and Jonas Kyrönviita), and collective action in Catalonia’s marine protected areas.
The panel sparked rich debate on how to reconcile human needs within planetary and social boundaries, while reflecting critically on the role of researchers in transformative and participatory knowledge production. Participants explored justice as framed in critical theory, emphasizing the pursuit of equitable, inclusive, and sustainable blue futures.
(photos provided by Irmak Ertör)
