Peterson, Jesse
- Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
Sammanfattning
The state of the ocean is increasingly described in terms of ocean “health.” The Implementation Plan for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development describes the aim of the decade as achieving “a sustainable and healthy ocean” and refers to the ocean's “health” throughout, including references to an overall “decline in ocean health” [Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), 2020], p. i, 6. Likewise, Sustainable Development Goal no. 14 aims “to achieve healthy and productive oceans” and “to improve ocean health” [United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), 2015, p. 23, 24]. In addition, scientific studies from all disciplines routinely use the same metaphor, including statements such as “the many benefits that society receives from a healthy ocean” (Duarte et al., 2020, p. 39), “the health of marine ecosystems” (Hagood, 2013, p. 75), and the “importance of ocean health” (Borja et al., 2020, p. 1).
However, we argue that the health metaphor (Suter, 1993; Jamieson, 1995) continues to be imprecise, ambiguous, and problematic. We suggest that the idea of ocean “health” misrepresents the Earth's history of ever-changing and adapting ecosystems through time, wrongly suggests that ocean health is an apolitical and objective state and obscures how conditions in the ocean are irreversibly intertwined with human activities.
Nyckelord
marine environmental justice; ocean equity; resource allocation; ocean sustainability; SDG 14; UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development; ocean health; science communication
Publicerad i
Frontiers in marine science
2022, volym: 9, artikelnummer: 818229
SLU författare
Globala målen (SDG)
UKÄ forskningsämne
Oceanografi, hydrologi, vattenresurser
Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap
Publikationens identifierare
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.818229
Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/115940