Thinking outside the ocean-climate nexus: Towards systems-informed decision making in a rapidly changing world

Celine Germond-Duret; Basil Germond; Stelios Katsanevakis; Miriah R Kelly; Antonios D Mazaris; Emma McKinley

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168228

Thinking outside the ocean-climate nexus: Towards systems-informed decision making in a rapidly changing world

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Feb 1:910:168228. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168228. Epub 2023 Nov 11.

Authors

Celine Germond-Duret¹, Basil Germond², Stelios Katsanevakis³, Miriah R Kelly⁴, Antonios D Mazaris⁵, Emma McKinley⁶

Affiliations

¹ Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YW, United Kingdom. Electronic address: c.germond-duret@lancaster.ac.uk.
² Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YW, United Kingdom.
³ University of the Aegean, Department of Marine Sciences, University Hill, 81100 Mytilene, Greece.
⁴ Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 06515, USA.
⁵ Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Ecology, School of Biology, Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁶ Cardiff University, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom.

PMID: 37956838
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168228

Abstract

Despite repeated calls for more inclusive practices, approaches used to address current challenges within the ocean-climate nexus do not sufficiently account for the complexity of the human-social-ecological system. So far, this has prevented efficient and just decision-making and policies. We propose to shift towards systems-informed decision making, which values transdisciplinary system-thinking and cumulative impact assessments, and encourages multi-system collaboration among decision-makers in order to address the recurring technicality of policies and to foster just solutions that account for the needs of varied actors across the sustainable development spectrum.