China’s ocean governance poses global challenges, says Michael Fabinyi

Branco Weiss Alumnus Michael Fabinyi is lead author of a new paper published recently in The Journal of Environment & Development that discusses China’s ocean governance. The researchers find that China’s distinctive model for a blue economy presents emerging challenges for global ocean governance.

The blue economy is a globally emerging concept for ocean governance that seeks to tap the economic potential of the oceans in environmentally sustainable ways. Yet, understanding and implementation of particular visions of the blue economy in specific regions diverge according to national and other contexts.

Drawing on a discourse analysis of Chinese language documents, the authors assess how the blue economy has been conceptualized in Chinese state policy and discourse. Part of a state ideology and practice of modernization that is defined in terms of rejuvenation under a strong state, the blue economy in China is seen as an opportunity to promote modernization from overlapping economic, geopolitical and ecological perspectives and actions.

Read the paper in The Journal of Environment & Development