The future governance of marine common pool resources: towards a governance framework for offshore carbon

The marine environment provides a range of common pool resources, including fisheries and 'blue' carbon. Interest is developing on the governance of the latter (Thomas, 2014), which is currently not addressed by any climate treaty, agreement or mechanism (Luisetti et al., 2015). However, much more is known - theoretically and practically - about the management and governance of another common pool resource, fisheries. These are dynamic (fishes have geographically diverse nursery and spawning grounds; are caught in different territories) and often subject to conditions of international political uncertainty, for example, in the case of the UK 'Brexit' vote, but not only. Understanding how fisheries governance and management may be affected by unravelling new policy landscapes is of vital importance to scientists, politicians and practitioners, for a more detailed and in-depth approach to their future management as common pool resources. Assessing possible future options for fisheries governance and management will enable, innovatively, to draw lessons for the management of other common pool resources such as 'blue' carbon (which can be sequestered and stored in different jurisdictions).

Questions this study will address:

- Which key factors affect fisheries management and governance under political uncertainty? Are there physical, cultural, jurisdictional differences?
- What are the implications for fisheries management under different policy scenarios?
- What opportunities do these bear for the governance and management of 'blue' carbon?

First year: the student will conduct a critical review of fisheries management, and related 'blue' carbon aspects, looking at existing biophysical and economic models aimed to inform policy and management of 'blue' common pool resources. This will be informed by interaction with key policy stakeholders in Defra or other ministry/department for the environment and associated agencies relevant to the chosen case-study, to ensure the work reflects the main considerations and uncertainties around management of fisheries and 'blue' carbon, enabling the research to be meaningful and impactful. The research can focus on UK and European waters, or further afield (e.g. Pacific regions) where conditions of uncertainty provide the opportunity to explore such issues, with wide applicability world-wide. This will result in the identification and understanding of key factors affecting fisheries management, and the identification of possible case studies as research foci.

Second and third year: the student will a) create different policy scenarios modelling an exemplar 'blue' common pool resource (e.g. fisheries) management under conditions of political uncertainty, based on the review work undertaken in the first year; b) test and evaluate these scenarios in discussion with key stakeholders (e.g. expert elicitation - e.g. O'Neill et al., 2008); c) deliver policy recommendations for governing existing (e.g. fisheries) and emerging (e.g. blue carbon) 'blue' common pool resources under conditions of political uncertainty.

Student and supervisory team will liaise closely throughout the duration of the project, which has been designed to enable the student to explore an emerging area of national and international relevance, with a clear focus, enabling the testing of ideas and methods. The supervisory team has extensive expertise in economic evaluation of marine ecosystems and environmental governance.