Blue Economy: A New Transition towards Human Wellbeing, Social Equity and Sustainability
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 7622
Special Issue Editors
Interests: blue economy; sustainable development of the Arctic region
Interests: environmental management; environmental assessment; decision analysis methods; urban development; urban planning; infrastructure; underground space use; UN system; international development organizations
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
“Blue economy” (BE) has become a popular buzz word over the past decade, starting from Gunter Pauli’s report to the Club of Rome in 2009. Drawing from the notion of a “green economy”, it refers to the control of the Earth’s oceans and marine life. However, the BE concept has different, and often conflicting, meanings for different people, resulting in incompatible or blurred definitions and applications.
Normally, the BE is defined in terms of the sustainable use of ocean resources. However, this approach ignores the fact that marine-based economic activities, such as fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, offshore oil and gas extraction, offshore wind energy, ocean energy, desalination, and marine tourism, depend to a greater extent on marine-related coastal activities.
The BE’s coastal component includes the marine-related activities which use and/or produce products and services for the ocean and marine-based activities, for example, seafood processing, marine biotechnology, shipbuilding and repair, port activities, communication, equipment, maritime insurance, and maritime surveillance.
A number of other sectors and activities which seriously affect the marine-based BE component can be added: onshore energy (including its decarbonization, development of alternative energy sources, energy savings), reduction in coastal air and water emissions, waste disposal management, coastal tourism, creation of nature reserves and parks, food security, health, and integrated coastal and marine area management.
For this Special Issue, we invite papers that analyze the impact of BE on human wellbeing, social equity and the sustainability of maritime (and other) nations. We welcome conceptual papers that propose new theory, or reveal innovative ways to address research questions such as understanding the BE nature, specifics of its various sectors and national, regional and local models, as well as how BE development can positively affect human security and wellbeing, social cohesion and equity and help different nations to transfer to a sustainable development model. We also invite empirical work of every variety, including case studies, comparative reviews (involving different countries, disciplines, or sustainable development challenges), and surveys. Through this Special Issue, we intend to demonstrate that the BE concept should become an integral part of both national and global sustainable development strategies aimed at eliminating socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural disparities and ensuring stability and prosperity not only for maritime nations but also for all of humankind.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Sergunin
Dr. Nikolai Bobylev
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- blue economy
- ocean management
- coastal areas
- regional and urban planning
- human wellbeing
- social equity
- sustainability
