Mia Strand

Nelson Mandela University | NMMU · Department of Development Studies

Interdisciplinary marine research is pivotal for addressing ocean sustainability challenges but may exclude diverse socio-economic, cultural, or identity groups. Drawing on perspectives of marine Early Career Researchers, we highlight the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in advancing interdisciplinary marine science and present...

Celebrated as one of the necessary solutions to more sustainable ocean governance by the UN Ocean Decade for Sustainable Development, transdisciplinarity, co-design, co-production, and co-creation of knowledge continue to be praised by a variety of scholars for their opportunities for impactful and socially significant research. However, despite in...

Sustainable Ocean Plans (SOPs) — as outlined in the Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy of the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) guide public and private sector decision-makers on how to sustainably manage 100% of a nation’s ocean area under national jurisdiction to advance longterm economic and social devel...

Although the importance of pursuing meaningful and equitable transdisciplinary research collaborations with Indigenous and local community members has been established in the literature, challenges remain as to how to best do this in practice. Pursuing arts-based participatory research methods in two different ocean governance contexts in South Afr...

There is an increasing call for the need to "integrate" Indigenous and local knowledge systems in ocean governance processes, on national and global scales. However, the knowledge systems, epistemes, and practices of different Indigenous and local coastal communities, whose stewardship of the planet sustains and protects marine ecosystems, pre-date...

Challenge 10 of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) calls for the restoration of society's relationship with the ocean. Research suggests that the relationship people have with marine environments can influence their depth of engagement in marine citizenship action, and the important role for ‘marine i...

Governance of the ocean and its biodiversity is deeply entangled within social, political and cultural histories. The evolution of marine science has been subject to similar influences, and we (the authors) consider these factors to create, embed and reinforce knowledge hierarchies in ocean governance processes and associated research that set soci...

This guide considers how to be inclusive of community in research. Reviewing and critiquing traditional ways of doing research, the guide specifically takes the reader through the colonial history of research, research on Indigenous and local communities, parachute science, and the false promises of universality and objectivity that hinder inclusiv...

Interdisciplinary marine research is pivotal for addressing ocean sustainability challenges. While interdisciplinary research brings together a diversity of disciplines, we ask: ‘does it bring together individuals and groups from diverse socio-economic, cultural, or identity backgrounds or does it favour only certain groups?’ This paper draws on th...

This research explored the usefulness of arts-based participatory research (ABPR) in identifying more equitable ocean governance in South Africa. Co-developing the ABPR with Indigenous and local knowledge holders as co-researchers, the research expanded on opportunities to inform more equitable marine spatial planning (MSP) and marine protected are...

This paper explores the relevance of existing international legal standards on children’s human rights to a healthy ocean. In particular, we reflect on the still underestimated importance of a healthy ocean for children’s human right to development and cultural rights. Focusing on environmental education, we argue that the concept of ocean literacy...

In May 2023, the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) adopted General Comment No. 26 (GC26) on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change, following extensive engagements with and inputs from children worldwide, States, human rights institutions, children’s organisations, civil s...

Children are still largely invisible in decision-making processes on the marine environment, even if they are increasingly recognised as environmental human rights defenders in decision-making processes on climate action. States’ international obligations in relation to children’s human rights and the protection of the marine environment can and sh...

After drawing attention to the crucial role of marine biodiversity, including that of deep-sea ecosystems, in current scientific understanding of the ocean-climate nexus, this article highlights the limited extent to which the international climate change regime has so far addressed the ocean. The focus then shifts to how the international climate...

This article aims to clarify the obligations of States under the law of the sea to put children’s human rights at the heart of decision-making on the protection of the marine environment, particularly at the ocean-climate nexus. The relevance of the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and in particular, children’s...

The Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) opens a new path in international law towards addressing issues at the ocean-climate nexus, as well as considering implications for the protection of human rights and achieving equity among States in the context of ocean knowledge production and environmenta...

Indigenous and local knowledge holders and cultural heritage continues 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 b...

Despite the growing recognition that ecosystem-based management approaches to ocean governance need to recognise and integrate cultural dimensions to remain relevant, efficient, inclusive and equitable, the difficulty of meaningfully integrating these in ecosystem-based ocean management remains a challenge. This is particularly due to i) the diffic...

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 th...

The Introduction of this paper argues that current coastal and ocean management approaches like marine spatial planning (MSP) often do not adequately acknowledge and integrate Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK). This is problematic because how humans value and perceive coastal and marine resources is integrally linked to how they use and manage t...

Development aid discourses have been criticised for perpetuating othering and coloniality. They have been argued to produce and reproduce conceptual creations of a distinguishable ‘us’ and ‘them’ and uphold hierarchies where former colonial powers remain preeminent and subjugate the ‘Global South’. The turn of the century, however, saw the emergenc...

This paper interrogates the concept of transdisciplinarity, both theoretically and practically, from a perspective of early career researchers (ECRs) in transformative ocean governance research. Aiming to advance research methodologies for future complex sustainability challenges, the paper seeks to illuminate some common uncertainties and challeng...

Participation of civil society in the negotiations on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) remains limited and below the standards adopted under other multilateral environmental negotiations (Morgera et al., 2022), both in terms of participation and access to information. This policy brief underscores that public partici...

This paper outlines the development of an arts-based participatory research (ABPR) methodology in the context of marine spatial planning (MSP) in Algoa Bay, South Africa. Exploring participatory research approaches where Indigenous and local knowledge holders are engaged co-researchers, this research investigates how contextualised photovoice and d...

Our analysis (Niner et al, 2022) indicates that national blue economy policies focus on technical solutions that do not address systemic issues, such as discrimination, gender inequality, and challenges posed by climate change (SDGs 16C, 5 and 13). These limited blue economy policies have legal implications: they give rise to expectations in foreig...

Current ocean management approaches are often characterised by economic or environmental objectives, paying limited consideration to social and cultural dimensions, as well as Indigenous and local knowledge. These approaches tend to inhibit ocean stewardship, often marginalising coastal communities or limiting people’s access to spiritual, traditio...

The online symposium Shared Visions for Marine Spatial Planning: Insights from Israel, South Africa and the United Kingdom was held from 9–10 March 2021. Insights from this multi-disciplinary and international symposium included 1) current states of marine spatial planning (MSP) in the three countries, 2) how MSP can be a helpful tool to advance ma...

The Trans Rural Narratives book project was conceptualised in 2018 to facilitate increased voice, visibility, personal autonomy and agency of rural-based trans and gender diverse persons to advance law reform for legal gender recognition on the basis of gender self-determination in South Africa. Over the past 15 years Gender Dynamix has become incr...

Target Group: The target group for this policy brief will include policy makers as well as current lead authorities responsible for developing and implementing MSP in their respective countries. This policy brief will inform decision-and policymakers about the who, when and how of the stakeholder engagement process in marine spatial planning (MSP)...

Development aid discourses have been criticised for perpetuating othering and coloniality. The discourses have been argued to produce and reproduce conceptual creations of a distinguishable 'us' and 'them' through binaries of 'developed' and 'underdeveloped', and they have been stated to uphold lingering colonial and racial hierarchies where the fo...