Planning in A liquiD worlD with tropicaL StakEs: solutions from an EU-Africa-Brazil perspective

Project Information

PADDLE

Grant agreement ID: 734271

DOI

10.3030/734271

Project closed

EC signature date 1 June 2017

Start date 1 July 2017

End date 30 April 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 1 544 535,00

EU contribution

€ 1 460 790,00

Coordinated by

INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PADDLE (Planning in A liquiD worlD with tropicaL StakEs: solutions from an EU-Africa-Brazil perspective)

Reporting period: 2019-07-01 to 2023-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Marine environments are subject to growing pressures such as traffic, increasing demand and changing land-use of coastal areas, seabed exploitation, dredging or mining, fishing, tourism, development of renewable energies, and other. Sustainably managed oceans and seas can contribute to economic growth and employment not only in Europe but also all around the world, including the Tropical Atlantic.
Sustainably managed oceans can stimulate economic growth and employment and allow the international community to meet its global targets, including the reduction of poverty and hunger. To this end, new frameworks like Marine spatial planning are needed to regulate and optimize the range of feasible uses of marine spaces and resources.
In some countries, political instability and the economic strength of transnational companies affects the balance of power in decision-making processes. For instance, MSP could open the way for ocean grabbing, i.e. « the dispossession or appropriation of use, control or access to ocean space or resources from prior resource users, rights holders or inhabitants » (Bennett, 2015; Wolf, 2015; Flannery et al., 2016). The risk of ocean grabbing is particularly high in tropical countries.

This project aimed at questioning the opportunities and limits of MSP in a Tropical Atlantic context, giving particular attention to the role of local communities like artisanal fisheries. There are three case study countries: Cabo Verde, Senegal and Brazil.
Realised secondments and organised events allowed scientific exchanges, capacity-building and the reinforcement of collaborations, contributing to the creation of a interdisciplinary network of experts on MSP in tropical Atlantic.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The number of secondments reached during the project is one of the key results obtained in the project, indeed 291,6 secondments were achieved. Over the project’s implementation 77% of the planned secondments have been completed. During the whole project, all deliverables initially planned were delivered for each of the project Work Package. During the second period of the project, the missing deliverables have been delivered, i.e. the training workshop at the Senegalese National Assembly (D5-2), the Handbook (D5-3) and the final Summit (D 1-4).
During the whole project, 5 workshops, an international conference, two official meetings and 1 summer school were organized and involved 420 participants. The summer school is certainly the event that has most contributed to this specific objective by training future researchers and MSP actors in tropical areas. The highlight of the second period was the training workshop for parliamentarians at the National Assembly of Senegal. This training workshop held in 2022 with 27 parliamentarians and members of the Network of Parliamentarians for the Environment of Senegal (REPES) contributed to strengthen the skills of prospective thinking and anticipation on marine spatial planning of parliamentarians.

Furthermore, the workshops and conferences (D1.5 D3.1 D4.1 D5-2) held in Cabo Verde, Senegal, France and Brazil, respectively, made it possible to launch multi-partner experiences and to have reflections that transcend traditional sectors of activity.
During the project, several secondees have seen their careers evolve very favorably. Some students have been able to find funding for their theses (i.e. Marianna Schiavetti from Brazil, who has been doing her thesis in France since 2020). Doctoral students have been able to carry out expert work in the field of MSP (i.e. Philippe Fotso). Managers/technicians have joined the academic world (i.e. Odeline Billant). Several secondees have also been appointed in the government of their respective countries (i.e. Fatou Ndiaye and Souleye Ndao in Senegal, Falvia Lucena-Fredou in Brazil).
Films highlighting the work of various participants in the project have also been produced. They allow to reinforce the visibility of the people and their research. They are available on the project website.
The members of the project have participated in several international congresses and international publications. The list of the 148 publications is presented in the report.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Management policies are currently fragmented and need to take into account the physical and ecological connectivity between sub-systems. To address this requirement, WP2 summarised current knowledge on tropical ecosystem dynamics to identify the gaps, threats, and the most appropriate indicators of resilience. By identifying and collecting available knowledge, data and models on key ecosystem dynamics at play in the case study countries (Brazil, Cape Verde and Senegal) PADDLE project has helped to understand marine environment in the tropical Atlantic. WP3 contributed to the transfer of knowledge on and experience in MSP governance in a North-South transboundary Atlantic context. The development of joint research and innovation activities aimed at understanding and critically analysing, evaluating and comparing political, legal and governance frameworks in MSP has enhanced the research skills and capabilities of academic and non-academic researchers with different social science backgrounds. International and inter-sectoral collaboration has supported dynamic solutions and innovative governance designs for MSP in tropical waters.
Mapping of uses in marine environments plays an important role by giving a picture of spatial allocation of uses, but still needs some improvement in order to fully represent the three dimensions of maritime uses (the sea surface, the water column, the seabed) and timeline. PADDLE Project has helped to understand the involvement and equilibrium of Tropical Stakeholders, their views on- and potential involvement in – the development of the maritime economy and in the emergence of conflicts. It will also focus on exchanges concerning innovation in stakeholder interactions.
In fine, Marine Spatial Planning can be understood as a problem of optimization (of uses and spaces) under constraint (reduction of conflicts, preservation of biodiversity, etc.). To achieve this optimization objective, institutions in charge of governance and management generally rely on spatially explicit decision support tools (DST, Decision Support Tools) that incorporate data describing ecological, legal, economic and social systems, and transparently assess management alternatives and trade-offs.
Different tools exist to date, whose strengths and limitations depend on the community and the issue that guided their development. However, their proliferation, the diversity of their approaches, and their varying degrees of technical accessibility, make it difficult to develop standardized strategic impact studies. PADDLE project has proposed ways to take into account local communities and the marine environment in public policies for Marine Spatial Planning, in particular through the handbook presenting the challenges and opportunities of marine spatial planning in the tropical Atlantic.

Example of shared use of the sea, port of Mindelo, Cabo Verde