Publications

“The efficacy of marine protected areas (MPAs) depends on their governance and management. We review their history in South Africa and recognise four periods. Period 1 (1964–1994) provided initial protection but was based on exclusionary, preservationist policies, was ad hoc in the absence of a national plan, and neglected social considerations. Period 2 (1994–2010) began […]

“In this chapter, we explore the legal ramifications of the plastics life cycle for international human rights law— specifically the human right to health. Our aim is to demonstrate how the lens of the right to health can advance critical thinking in respect of State obligations under the right to health vis-a-vis plastics and to […]

“At the international level, ‘customary law’ has been defined as a set of: ‘customs that are accepted as legal requirements or obligatory rules of conduct; practices and beliefs that are so vital and intrinsic a part of a social and economic system that they are treated as if they were laws’.[1]  The recognition of customary law in […]

“Indigenous and local knowledge holders and cultural heritage continue to be largely neglected in ocean governance, especially area-based management approaches such as marine spatial planning in South Africa – and more broadly along the African coast. This policy brief highlights six areas through which a more diverse range of knowledge holders can be better integrated […]

“Today, plastics are ubiquitous. They are found in almost every corner of life, including food packaging, medical equipment, and the clothes we wear. We know that plastics have the potential to impact numerous human rights, including the right to health. As a response to both the scale of the plastic production as well as the […]

“Recreational fisheries are notoriously hard to manage, monitor and govern. This often requires managers to think “out of the box” and disregard traditional methodologies designed to manage fisher behaviour. Social media, which is an informal technological scholastic platform for the communication and dissemination of information, has become an important platform for community organisation and engagement […]

“In 2019, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) launched an ambitious new approach to tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges by investing in 12 multinational interdisciplinary Research Hubs, the scale and scope of which are a first. These challenge-led Hubs are focused on finding solutions to acute challenges which have proved resistant to change […]

“Although stakeholder engagement is one of the founding principles of marine spatial planning (MSP), meaningful representation of people and their connections to marine resources within marine governance is still lacking. A broad understanding of how concepts surrounding social capital and capacity is translated into MSP practice is missing. With this article, we describe detailed case […]

“The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets out a transformative vision which has yet to be realised for SDG14 and oceans. Recognition of the “indivisibility” of the Goals and enhanced integration of ocean governance support this transformation, but require at least multidisciplinary, or probably transdisciplinary, approaches. For regions which are highly dependent on development finance, […]