Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship
- aStockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;
- bGlobal Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere Academy Programme, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden;
- cBeijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
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Edited by Bonnie J. McCay, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, and approved July 14, 2017 (received for review March 16, 2017)

Significance
The ocean is under considerable pressure originating from diverse human activities on land and in the water. While substantial literature has focused on how science interacts with policy, relatively little is known about interactions between science and business. Here, we describe: (i) the process of identifying “keystone actors” in marine ecosystems, namely globally operating corporations engaged in fisheries and aquaculture, with a unique ability to influence change and take on a leadership role in ocean stewardship; (ii) how we actively engaged with these actors, to collaboratively develop solutions to the ocean sustainability challenge; and (iii) how this coproduction process led to the establishment of a unique global ocean initiative, where science and business collaborate toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Abstract
The ocean represents a fundamental source of micronutrients and protein for a growing world population. Seafood is a highly traded and sought after commodity on international markets, and is critically dependent on healthy marine ecosystems. A global trend of wild stocks being overfished and in decline, as well as multiple sustainability challenges associated with a rapid growth of aquaculture, represent key concerns in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Existing efforts aimed to improve the sustainability of seafood production have generated important progress, primarily at the local and national levels, but have yet to effectively address the global challenges associated with the ocean. This study highlights the importance of transnational corporations in enabling transformative change, and thereby contributes to advancing the limited understanding of large-scale private actors within the sustainability science literature. We describe how we engaged with large seafood producers to coproduce a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship. We suggest that this initiative is improving the prospects for transformative change by providing novel links between science and business, between wild-capture fisheries and aquaculture, and across geographical space. We argue that scientists can play an important role in facilitating change by connecting knowledge to action among global actors, while recognizing risks associated with such engagement. The methods developed through this case study contribute to identifying key competences in sustainability science and hold promises for other sectors as well.
Footnotes
↵1H.Ö. and J.-B.J. contributed equally to this work.
- ↵2To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: henrik.osterblom{at}su.se.
Author contributions: H.Ö., J.-B.J., C.F., and J.R. designed research; H.Ö., J.-B.J., C.F., and J.R. performed research; H.Ö. and J.-B.J. analyzed data; and H.Ö., J.-B.J., C.F., and J.R. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1704453114/-/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
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- Article
- Abstract
- The Scientific Process: An Empirical Starting Point
- The Codesign Process: Establishing Initial Trust
- The First Dialogue: Collaborative Learning in Practice
- The Initiative: Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship
- The Second Dialogue: Moving from Words to Action
- Will the Initiative Influence the Seafood Industry?
- Transformative Capacity
- Risks Associated with Engaging the Private Sector
- Implications for Sustainability Science
- Conclusions
- Materials and Methods
- Acknowledgments
- Footnotes
- References
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