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European seas are encountering an upsurge in competing marine activities and infrastructures. Traditional exploitation such as fisheries, tourism, transportation, and oil production are accompanied by new sustainable economic activities such as offshore windfarms, aquaculture, and tidal and wave energy. One proposed solution to overcome possible competing claims at sea lies in combining these economic activities as part of Multi-Use Platforms at Sea (MUPS). MUPS can be understood as areas at sea, designated for a combination of activities, either completely integrated in a platform or in shared marine space. MUPS can potentially benefit from each other in terms of infrastructure, maintenance, etc. Developing MUPS in the marine environment demands adequate governance. In this article, we investigate four European sites to find out how governance arrangements may facilitate or complicate MUPs. In particular, we apply a framework specifying policy, economic, social, technical, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) factors to explore governance arrangements in four case study sites in different sea basins around Europe (the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, and the Baltic Sea). The article concludes with policy recommendations on a governance regime for facilitating the development of MUPS in the future.

Climate change is anticipated to have long-term and widespread direct consequences for the European marine ecosystems and subsequently for the European fishery sector. Additionally, many socio-economic and political factors linked to climate change scenarios will impact the future development of fishing industries. Robust projection modeling of bioeconomic consequences of climate change on the European fishing sector must identify all these factors and their potential future interaction. In this study, four socio-political scenarios developed in the EU project CERES (Climate change and European aquatic RESources) were operationalized and used in model projections of marine wild capture fisheries. Four CERES scenarios (“World Markets,” “National Enterprise,” “Global Sustainability” and “Local Stewardship”) were based on the IPCC framework of Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). For each of these scenarios, a set of quantitative outputs was generated to allow projections of bio-economic impacts to mid-century (2050) on wild-capture fisheries operating in different European regions. Specifically, projections accounted for future changes in fisheries management targets, access regulations, international agreements, fish and fuel prices, technological developments and marine spatial planning. This study thoroughly describes the elements of these four fisheries scenarios and demonstrates an example of the “regionalization” of these scenarios by summarizing how they were applied to the North Sea flatfish fishery. Bioeconomic projections highlight the importance of future developments in fuel and fish price development to the viability of that and other fisheries. Adapting these scenarios for use in other models and regions outside the 10 European fisheries examined in CERES would be highly beneficial by allowing direct comparison of the bioeconomic risks and opportunities posed by climate change.

Reservoir catchments in Ghana have undergone significant changes in recent years with major implications for socio-economic development and local livelihoods. We studied land use and land cover changes and their impacts on livelihoods in the Owabi reservoir catchment from 1970 to 2014 using Landsat, ERDAS Imagine and Arc Geographic Information System (ArcGIS 10.2) software supplemented with participatory approaches including focus group discussions, key informant interviews and questionnaire surveys with 400 households. Our results showed that, since 1970, 24.6% of high-density forests and 15.8% of sparse forests have disappeared, while the built-up area has increased from 9.8% to 56.6%. Additionally, the proportion of bare soil (areas that do not have vegetation cover due to forest clearing and other anthropogenic activities) has increased, while the areas of waterbodies have declined. We identified urbanisation and lack of community involvement in catchment management as the key factors driving the land cover changes that have adversely affected the livelihoods of the local fringe communities. This study highlights the threats from urbanisation to land cover changes and identifies the key drivers of land use change. For effective and sustainable management of natural resources, the local communities should be more actively involved in the decision-making process regarding the management of their individual catchments.

Abstract This study analyzes and compares job satisfaction scores among small-scale fishers in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica over time. Data from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic is also compared to analyze changes in job satisfaction across cases, to unpack the explanatory factors leading to variation in job satisfaction scores. Factors such as gear type, age, education, years fishing, fishing regulations, fishery institutions and perceptions of governance, among others, are analyzed in terms of their relationships with three aggregate components of job satisfaction: Self-actualization, Health, and Earnings. Findings indicate changes over time in the Gulf of Nicoya as well as differences between countries. Fishers in Puerto Rico manifest high levels of job satisfaction when compared with the Dominican Republic and the Gulf of Nicoya. Differences appear to be influenced by gear type, with higher values on some aspects of job satisfaction being related to gears found most frequently in Puerto Rico and lower values associated with hand-line and long-line fishers frequently in the Gulf of Nicoya. Variation in extent and relative success of fishers' associations are also related to levels of job satisfaction. Governance aspects, including the presence of illegal fishing and conflicts between fishers using different gear, appear to have complex relationships with fishers' attitudes towards their occupation. In conclusion, we argue that understanding changes and variation in job satisfaction is critical for viewing the overall sustainability of fisheries.

Real estate markets play a crucial role in the economy, providing opportunities for investment and housing. However, there are several challenges in both direct and indirect investment mechanisms affecting its social and financial sustainability. These challenges include high costs, lengthy processes, limited transparency, and restricted investor control. Additionally, the dominance of large investors in the market intensifies these issues, creating barriers to smaller investors. This raises concerns around social inequality and sustainability among small investors, that represent, in number, the largest share of investors. Blockchain technology has emerged as a possible solution to address these issues in the real estate sector, with the potential to improve its long term social and financial sustainability. Features such as smart contracts and tokenization can enhance efficiency, transparency, security, and accessibility in property transactions. In the case of smart contracts, these enable self-executing and automated agreements, and tokenization allows for fractional ownership and increased liquidity. To assess the knowledge and perceptions of professionals in the real estate sector and evaluate the possible impact of the technology in the market, a survey-based methodology was followed. It targeted individuals actively involved in the industry, including professionals from real estate investment companies and real estate agencies. The data revealed that most professionals in the Portuguese real estate market have little to no knowledge about blockchain technology. Yet, those who possess knowledge recognize the potential benefits it can bring to the industry. This lack of awareness can be attributed to the relatively recent emergence of blockchain and its limited discussion within the real estate sector.

Climate change and chemical contamination are global environmental threats of growing concern for the scientific community and regulatory authorities. Yet, the impacts and interactions of both stressors (particularly ocean warming and emerging chemical contaminants) on physiological responses of marine organisms remain unclear and still require further understanding. Within this context, the main goal of this study was to assess, for the first time, the effects of warming (+ 5 °C) and accumulation of a polybrominated diphenyl ether congener (BDE-209, brominated flame retardant) through dietary exposure on energy budget of the juvenile white seabream (Diplodus sargus). Specifically, growth (G), routine metabolism (R), excretion (faecal, F and nitrogenous losses, U) and food consumption (C) were calculated to obtain the energy budget. The results demonstrated that the energy proportion spent for G dominated the mode of the energy allocation of juvenile white seabream (56.0-67.8%), especially under the combined effect of warming plus BDE-209 exposure. Under all treatments, the energy channelled for R varied around 26% and a much smaller percentage was channelled for excretion (F: 4.3-16.0% and U: 2.3-3.3%). An opposite trend to G was observed to F, where the highest percentage (16.0 ± 0.9%) was found under control temperature and BDE-209 exposure via diet. In general, the parameters were significantly affected by increased temperature and flame retardant exposure, where higher levels occurred for: i) wet weight, relative growth rate, protein and ash contents under warming conditions, ii) only for O:N ratio under BDE-209 exposure via diet, and iii) for feed efficiency, ammonia excretion rate, routine metabolic rate and assimilation efficiency under the combination of both stressors. On the other hand, decreased viscerosomatic index was observed under warming and lower fat content was observed under the combined effect of both stressors. Overall, under future warming and chemical contamination conditions, fish energy budget was greatly affected, which may dictate negative cascading impacts at population and community levels. Further research combining other climate change stressors (e.g. acidification and hypoxia) and emerging chemical contaminants are needed to better understand and forecast such biological effects in a changing ocean.

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 has awakened the fear of forgetting the fight against Climate Change coming up with a number of initiatives demanding to accelerate the European Green Deal, as the best way out of the crisis. Offshore renewable energy sources, including offshore wind, wave power and tidal streams, might play a crucial role in meeting low-carbon energy scenarios, which is one of the six key principles of the Green Recovery, contributing at the same time to economic growth and job creation. However, continuous cost reduction is needed to achieve more efficient and competitive technologies in comparison to other energy sources. Design tools can help to accelerate cost reduction in early stages of technology development or deployment project planning. This article shows some examples of design tools developed within four European funded R&D projects: • DTOcean and DTOceanPlus provide advanced design tools for ocean energy systems innovation, development and deployment • LIFES50+ proves cost effective technology for floating substructures for 10MW wind turbines at water depths greater than 50 m • OPERA collects, analyses and shares open-sea operating data and experience to validate and de-risk several industrial innovations for wave energy The design tools presented in this article cover different stages of technology or project development: • Multi-physics numerical modelling tools for the design of floating offshore wind turbines • Decision-making tools during the planning phase of offshore wind or ocean energy farms • Structured innovation and stage gate tools for the evaluation of innovations for offshore renewables at early stages of development The reader will be able to find out references to useful open source tools and public documents produced by these projects. Keywords: design tools, offshore wind, wave power, tidal energy, numerical modelling, structured innovation, deployment project planning

The design of effective and economically viable wave energy devices involves complex decision-making about the product based on conceptual design information, including stakeholder requirements, functions, components and technical parameters. The great diversity of concepts makes it extremely difficult to create fair comparisons of the relative merits of the many different designs. Conventional design approaches have proved insufficient to guarantee wave energy technologies meet their technical and economic goals. Systems engineering can provide a suitable framework to overcome the obstacles towards a successful wave energy technology. The main objective of this work is to review the well-established systems engineering approaches that have been successfully implemented in complex engineering problems and to what extent they have been applied to wave energy technology development. The paper first reviews how system information can be organised in different design domains to guide the synthesis and analysis activities and the definition of requirements and metrics, as well as the search for solutions and decision-making. Then, an exhaustive literature review on the application of systems engineering approaches to wave energy development is presented per design domain. Finally, a set of conclusions is drawn, along with some suggestions for improving the effectiveness of wave energy technology development.