• Energy Research

Abstract Post-industrial society is driving global environmental change, which is a challenge for all generations, current and future. The Anthropocene is the geological epoch in which humans dominate and it is rooted in the past, present, and future. Future sustainability is building on the momentum of the fundamental importance of studying human dynamics and governance of coupled social and ecological systems. In the Anthropocene, social innovation may play a critical role in achieving new pathways to sustainability. This conventional narrative review uses a qualitative analysis anchored in the Grounded Theory Method and a systematic collection and analysis of papers to identify broad types of social innovations. Scientific journal articles published since 2018 were prioritised for inclusion. The six types of social innovation proposed are (a) authentic engagement; (b) artful and engaging communication; (c) urging and compelling change; (d) governance for social-ecological systems; (e) anticipation in governance; and (f) lived experiences and values. The six innovations proposed in this paper can be embedded within, and form part of, social action using a science–society compact for the sustainable development of coasts in the Anthropocene.

Les robots marins ont le potentiel d'améliorer la recherche marine WIO pour améliorer l'adaptation régionale aux défis posés par le changement climatique en fournissant une capacité de recherche accrue qui contourne la nécessité d'infrastructures coûteuses, telles que les grands navires de recherche. Cet article teste ce potentiel et évalue l'état de préparation des communautés WIO à adopter des technologies autonomes pour répondre à ses priorités de recherche marine. Nous appliquons une gamme d'analyses à une étude de cas de robots marins entreprise dans les eaux autour de l'île de Pemba, une partie de l'archipel de Zanzibar, en Tanzanie en 2019. La campagne faisait partie d'un projet multinational axé sur l'augmentation de la capacité de l'OIO à relever les défis de la sécurité alimentaire et de la durabilité des océans. Un programme d'engagement communautaire avec six communautés côtières tanzaniennes a entraîné des changements positifs dans les attitudes envers les robots marins, avec des augmentations signalées dans la compréhension et l'acceptation de ces technologies. La suspicion des robots a été réduite et un risque plus faible de retrait de l'équipement opérationnel a été enregistré suite à la fourniture de matériel éducatif. L'analyse des coûts, des risques et des avantages montre que les robots marins sont perçus comme offrant des avantages de haut niveau, mais à un coût élevé difficile à atteindre en utilisant un financement national ou régional. Une évaluation de la capacité des instituts marins WIO à adopter de telles technologies montre qu'avant ce travail, peu de compétences ou d'infrastructures liées aux robots marins étaient disponibles pour les chercheurs et a en outre confirmé que les opportunités de financement étaient perçues comme largement indisponibles aux niveaux institutionnel, national, régional ou international. Les réponses des partenaires régionaux à la suite de l'achèvement de l'étude de cas ont toutefois révélé un accroissement de la capacité perçue, en particulier en ce qui concerne l'accès à l'infrastructure et à l'expertise, ainsi que le soutien et les possibilités de financement à chaque niveau. L'étude de cas présentée s'est avérée avoir été un précieux démonstrateur des avantages de l'utilisation de robots marins pour répondre aux exigences de recherche sur les océans côtiers de WIO et il a été démontré que la capacité régionale avait considérablement augmenté dans le large éventail d'instituts marins étudiés tout au long de la période de l'étude de cas. Cette étude démontre que la prise de mesures précoces en vue de l'adoption de robots marins autonomes a augmenté la capacité de recherche marine régionale de WIO et accru la confiance et la volonté des chercheurs locaux de rechercher des solutions alternatives aux défis de recherche marine en cours. Les recommandations pour les actions futures qui continueront d'augmenter la capacité et la préparation à l'adoption régionale des robots marins comprennent l'investissement aux niveaux local, national et régional pour fournir des opportunités de formation accessibles et faciliter les collaborations régionales et internationales ; l'investissement dans un centre régional ou un centre d'excellence pour la technologie robotique marine ; l'adoption précoce de technologies autonomes plus petites et moins chères nouvellement émergentes ; l'investissement dans les compétences locales et les installations de soutien pour aider l'adhésion et l'acceptation locales tout en soutenant la capacité régionale. Los robots marinos tienen el potencial de mejorar la investigación marina de la OMI para mejorar la adaptación regional a los desafíos presentados por el cambio climático al proporcionar una mayor capacidad de investigación que evita el requisito de una infraestructura costosa, como los grandes buques de investigación. Este documento pone a prueba este potencial y evalúa la disposición de las comunidades de la OMI a adoptar tecnologías autónomas para cumplir con sus prioridades de investigación marina. Aplicamos una serie de análisis a un estudio de caso de robots marinos realizado en aguas alrededor de la isla de Pemba, parte del archipiélago de Zanzíbar, en Tanzania en 2019. La campaña formó parte de un proyecto multinacional centrado en aumentar la capacidad de la OMI para hacer frente a los desafíos de la seguridad alimentaria y la sostenibilidad de los océanos. Un programa de participación comunitaria con seis comunidades costeras de Tanzania dio lugar a cambios positivos en las actitudes hacia los robots marinos con aumentos reportados en la comprensión y aceptación de tales tecnologías. La sospecha de los robots se redujo y se registró un menor riesgo de retirar el equipo operativo después de la provisión de material educativo. El análisis de costos, riesgos y beneficios muestra que se percibe que los robots marinos proporcionan beneficios de alto nivel, pero tienen un alto costo que es difícil de lograr con fondos nacionales o regionales. Una evaluación de la capacidad de los institutos marinos de la OMI para adoptar tales tecnologías muestra que antes de este trabajo, los investigadores disponían de pocas habilidades o infraestructuras relacionadas con los robots marinos y confirmó además que se percibía que las oportunidades de financiación no estaban disponibles en gran medida a nivel institucional, nacional, regional o internacional. Sin embargo, las respuestas de los socios regionales después de la finalización del estudio de caso revelaron un aumento en la capacidad percibida, particularmente relacionada con el acceso a la infraestructura y la experiencia, así como el apoyo y las oportunidades de financiación en cada nivel. Se demuestra que el estudio de caso presentado ha sido un valioso demostrador de los beneficios del uso de robots marinos para cumplir con los requisitos de investigación oceánica costera de WIO y se demostró que la capacidad regional aumentó sustancialmente dentro de la amplia gama de institutos marinos encuestados durante todo el período del estudio de caso. Este estudio demuestra que dar los primeros pasos hacia la adopción de robots marinos autónomos ha aumentado la capacidad de investigación marina regional de la OMI y ha aumentado la confianza y la voluntad de los investigadores locales para buscar soluciones alternativas a los desafíos actuales de la investigación marina. Las recomendaciones para la acción futura que continuarán aumentando la capacidad y la preparación para la adopción regional de robots marinos incluyen la inversión a nivel local, nacional y regional para proporcionar oportunidades de capacitación accesibles y facilitar las colaboraciones regionales e internacionales; inversión en un centro regional o centro de excelencia para la tecnología robótica marina; adopción temprana de tecnologías autónomas más pequeñas y baratas que están surgiendo recientemente; inversión en habilidades locales e instalaciones de apoyo para ayudar a la aceptación y aceptación local al tiempo que se apoya la capacidad regional. Marine robots have the potential to enhance WIO marine research to improve regional adaptation to the challenges presented by climate change by providing enhanced research capacity that bypasses the requirement for expensive infrastructure, such as large research vessels. This paper tests this potential and assesses the readiness of WIO communities to adopt autonomous technologies to meet its marine research priorities. We apply a range of analyses to a marine robots case study undertaken in waters around the island of Pemba, part of the Zanzibar archipelago, in Tanzania in 2019. The campaign formed part of a multinational project focused on increasing WIO capacity to meet food security and ocean sustainability challenges. A community engagement programme with six Tanzanian coastal communities resulted in positive changes in attitudes towards marine robots with reported increases in understanding and acceptance of such technologies. Suspicion of the robots was reduced and a lower risk of removing operational equipment was recorded following the provision of educational material. Cost, risk and benefit analysis shows that marine robots are perceived to provide high level benefits, but come at a high cost that is difficult to achieve using national or regional funding. An assessment of the capacity of WIO marine institutes to adopt such technologies shows that prior to this work, few skills or infrastructure related to marine robots were available to researchers and further confirmed that funding opportunities were perceived to be largely unavailable at institutional, national, regional or international levels. Responses from regional partners following completion of the case study however, revealed an uplift in perceived capacity, particularly related to access to infrastructure and expertise as well as support and opportunities for funding at each level. The presented case study is shown to have been a valuable demonstrator of the benefits of using marine robots to meet WIO coastal ocean research requirements and regional capacity was shown to be substantially increased within the broad range of marine institutes surveyed throughout the case study period. This study demonstrates that taking early steps towards adopting marine autonomous robots has increased WIO regional marine research capacity and increased the confidence and willingness of local researchers to seek alternative solutions to ongoing marine research challenges. Recommendations for future action that will continue to increase the capacity and readiness for regional adoption of marine robots include investment at local, national and regional levels to provide accessible training opportunities and to facilitate regional and international collaborations; investment in a regional hub, or centre of excellence for marine robotic technology; early adoption of newly emerging smaller, cheaper autonomous technologies; investment in local skills and support facilities to aid local buy-in and acceptance while supporting regional capacity. تتمتع الروبوتات البحرية بالقدرة على تعزيز البحوث البحرية لمنظمة الويبو لتحسين التكيف الإقليمي مع التحديات التي يطرحها تغير المناخ من خلال توفير قدرة بحثية معززة تتجاوز متطلبات البنية التحتية باهظة الثمن، مثل سفن الأبحاث الكبيرة. تختبر هذه الورقة هذه الإمكانات وتقيم استعداد مجتمعات WIO لتبني تقنيات مستقلة لتلبية أولويات أبحاثها البحرية. نطبق مجموعة من التحليلات على دراسة حالة الروبوتات البحرية التي أجريت في المياه المحيطة بجزيرة بيمبا، وهي جزء من أرخبيل زنجبار، في تنزانيا في عام 2019. شكلت الحملة جزءًا من مشروع متعدد الجنسيات يركز على زيادة قدرة WIO على مواجهة تحديات الأمن الغذائي واستدامة المحيطات. أدى برنامج المشاركة المجتمعية مع ستة مجتمعات ساحلية تنزانية إلى تغييرات إيجابية في المواقف تجاه الروبوتات البحرية مع الزيادات المبلغ عنها في فهم وقبول هذه التقنيات. تم تقليل الاشتباه في الروبوتات وتم تسجيل خطر أقل لإزالة المعدات التشغيلية بعد توفير المواد التعليمية. يُظهر تحليل التكلفة والمخاطر والفوائد أن الروبوتات البحرية يُنظر إليها على أنها توفر فوائد عالية المستوى، ولكنها تأتي بتكلفة عالية يصعب تحقيقها باستخدام التمويل الوطني أو الإقليمي. يُظهر تقييم لقدرة المعاهد البحرية التابعة للمنظمة على اعتماد مثل هذه التقنيات أنه قبل هذا العمل، كان هناك عدد قليل من المهارات أو البنية التحتية المتعلقة بالروبوتات البحرية المتاحة للباحثين وأكد كذلك أن فرص التمويل كان يُنظر إليها على أنها غير متاحة إلى حد كبير على المستويات المؤسسية أو الوطنية أو الإقليمية أو الدولية. ومع ذلك، كشفت الردود الواردة من الشركاء الإقليميين بعد الانتهاء من دراسة الحالة عن ارتفاع في القدرات المتصورة، لا سيما فيما يتعلق بالوصول إلى البنية التحتية والخبرات وكذلك الدعم وفرص التمويل على كل مستوى. تبين أن دراسة الحالة المقدمة كانت دليلاً قيّماً على فوائد استخدام الروبوتات البحرية لتلبية متطلبات أبحاث المحيطات الساحلية لمنظمة WIO، وتبين أن القدرة الإقليمية قد زادت بشكل كبير ضمن مجموعة واسعة من المعاهد البحرية التي تم مسحها طوال فترة دراسة الحالة. توضح هذه الدراسة أن اتخاذ خطوات مبكرة نحو اعتماد الروبوتات البحرية المستقلة قد زاد من قدرة البحوث البحرية الإقليمية للمنظمة العالمية للملكية الفكرية وزاد من ثقة واستعداد الباحثين المحليين للبحث عن حلول بديلة لتحديات البحوث البحرية المستمرة. تشمل التوصيات المتعلقة بالإجراءات المستقبلية التي ستستمر في زيادة القدرة والاستعداد للاعتماد الإقليمي للروبوتات البحرية الاستثمار على المستويات المحلية والوطنية والإقليمية لتوفير فرص تدريب يمكن الوصول إليها ولتسهيل التعاون الإقليمي والدولي ؛ والاستثمار في مركز إقليمي أو مركز امتياز لتكنولوجيا الروبوتات البحرية ؛ والاعتماد المبكر للتقنيات المستقلة الأصغر والأرخص الناشئة حديثًا ؛ والاستثمار في المهارات المحلية ومرافق الدعم للمساعدة في المشاركة والقبول المحليين مع دعم القدرات الإقليمية.

SUMMARYBecause the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively analyse human behaviour and knowledge systems in this context. In this subject review, we summarize key ways in which the environmental social sciences can better inform fisheries management policy and practice and marine conservation in the Anthropocene. We argue that environmental social scientists are particularly well positioned to synergize research to fill the gaps between: (1) local behaviours/needs/worldviews and marine resource management and biological conservation concerns; and (2) large-scale drivers of planetary environmental change (globalization, affluence, technological change, etc.) and local cognitive, socioeconomic, cultural and historical processes that shape human behaviour in the marine environment. To illustrate this, we synthesize the roles of various environmental social science disciplines in better understanding the interaction between humans and tropical marine ecosystems in developing nations where issues arising from human–coastal interactions are particularly pronounced. We focus on: (1) the application of the environmental social sciences in marine resource management and conservation; (2) the development of ‘new’ socially equitable marine conservation; (3) repopulating the seascape; (4) incorporating multi-scale dynamics of marine social–ecological systems; and (5) envisioning the future of marine resource management and conservation for producing policies and projects for comprehensive and successful resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene.

The Lake Kariba fishery is of regional importance; it accounts for 35% of the total Zambian fish production. However, emerging evidence in the recent decades suggests that the fishery is facing socio-economic and environmental challenges. Using Ostrom’s framework for analysing socio-ecological systems, we examined the social, economic, and environmental problems faced by the fishing communities in Lake Kariba. The framework links various social, economic, and ecological factors to devise a sustainable fisheries management plan. A combination of survey questionnaires, focus group discussions, observations, and key informant interviews were used to assess this sustainability challenge. The data collected were subjected to bivariate and descriptive analysis. The results obtained did not show a significant decline in fish production over the past 13 years (R2 Linear = 0.119, p = 0.248). However, the experts and the fishers have reported declining trends in valuable fish species such as Oreochromis mortimeri, compounded by the increased fishing efforts (X2 = 180.14, p value = ˂ 0.00001). The key threats identified include: overfishing, weak institutions, and the introduction of invasive fish species such as Oreochromis niloticus. This situation has raised fears of fish depletion among the stakeholders. Based on these results, we recommend stronger institutional collaboration among the stakeholders in the riparian states and education that illustrates the global value of fisheries for food security and biodiversity conservation in pursuing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Balancing blue growth with the conservation of wild species and habitats is a key challenge for global ocean management. This is exacerbated in Global South nations, such as Tanzania, where climate-driven ocean change requires delicate marine spatial planning (MSP) trade-offs to ensure climate resilience of marine resources relied upon by coastal communities. Here, we identified challenges and opportunities that climate change presents to the near-term spatial management of Tanzania's artisanal fishing sector, marine protected areas and seaweed farming. Specifically, spatial meta-analysis of climate modelling for the region was carried out to estimate the natural distribution of climate resilience in the marine resources that support these socially important sectors. We estimated changes within the next 20 and 40 years, using modelling projections forced under global emissions trajectories, as well as a wealth of GIS and habitat suitability data derived from globally distributed programmes. Multi-decadal analyses indicated that long-term climate change trends and extreme weather present important challenges to the activity of these sectors, locally and regionally. Only in few instances did we identify areas exhibiting climate resilience and opportunities for sectoral expansion. Including these climate change refugia and bright spots in effective ocean management strategies may serve as nature-based solutions: promoting adaptive capacity in some of Tanzania's most vulnerable economic sectors; creating wage-gaining opportunities that promote gender parity; and delivering some economic benefits of a thriving ocean where possible. Without curbs in global emissions, however, a bleak future may emerge for globally valuable biodiversity hosted in Tanzania, and for its coastal communities, despite the expansion of protected areas or curbs in other pressures. Growing a sustainable ocean economy in this part of the Global South remains a substantial challenge without global decarbonization.

Inland fisheries in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) offer food security to the riverine communities across the region. They also contribute towards the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 15, which aim to alleviate poverty and maintain biodiversity conservation. Despite this significant role, the fisheries have suffered severe declines in the previous decades due to multiple factors, such as overfishing and poor legislation. Furthermore, climate change is exerting pressure by altering the ecology and productivity of the river systems. The unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have further constrained management efforts. Attempts to address these challenges have pointed towards transboundary fisheries management as a silver bullet in moving towards sustainable fisheries management. However, the implementation of this strategy in the region has encountered numerous roadblocks, thereby subjecting the river ecosystem to a wider environmental threat, with dire consequences on livelihoods. This paper reviews existing management and governance structures together with key informant interviews to elicit primary and secondary data essential for management at the regional level. The study identifies conflicting regulations, and inadequate policies and institutions across the region as major bottlenecks affecting the successful implementation of transboundary fisheries management. Finally, the paper offers some suggestions for the improvement of fisheries management in the region.

AbstractFood insecurity is a pressing issue facing our world, particularly affecting coastal communities who rely on marine resources. The problem is further compounded by the rapidly changing climate, a deteriorating environment and growing human populations. It is essential to evaluate this issue accurately to reduce risk and improve the situation of coastal communities, especially in countries with less socioeconomic development. To this end, we develop a food security social-ecological risk assessment framework for developing communities in coastal areas of the Western Indian Ocean facing a changing environment. The framework integrates local ecological knowledge, expert scientific opinion, survey data, and satellite sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a observation. We conducted a local-scale case study in four regions in Tanzania; Mafia, Pemba, Tanga, and Unguja, revealing that they face moderate to high risk levels of food insecurity. The highest risk was observed in the island communities of Pemba and Unguja, while the communities of Mafia and Tanga had the lowest risk due to lower exposure and sensitivity to climate change. Our results show that recognizing the key differences across risk components is crucial in identifying effective intervention strategies for local practitioners. This study highlights the need for detailed assessments to provide accurate information on local-scale food security dynamics, specifically when assessing impacts induced by environmental and climatic changes.