SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY NETWORK presents: 

STS NOW!

“The Industrialization of the Deep Ocean: Can we avoid the Tragedy of the Commons on the High Seas?”

Dr. Erik Cordes

Professor
Department of Biology, Temple University

As we struggle to move beyond fossil fuels and avoid the most catastrophic outcomes of global climate change scenarios, we are increasingly turning to the ocean and the emerging Blue Economy for solutions. Our fisheries are moving into deeper waters further offshore, we are drilling for oil and gas in places that were thought impossible a few years ago, and emerging industries like deep-sea mining and marine genetic resources are looking to international waters as a way to avoid the regulations and expense of working with the exclusive economic zones of nation-states. Currently, there are negotiations underway at the UN to govern these activities, which range from the designation of the management entity to the methodology for determining environmental impacts. Among these consideration is the proper valuation of ecosystem services and the creation of a global fund that would contain the dividends from the extraction of natural resources. Because these considerations are happening at a global scale, beyond areas of national jurisdiction, we have an opportunity to consider some new(ish) ideas related to ownership, nature’s rights, and a global universal income. Time will tell whether any of these creative ideas gain traction in this forum.

ONLINE: HTTPS://TEMPLE.ZOOM.US/J/94441410987

The STS network at Temple University is a diverse group of faculty, staff, and graduate students with interests in the social, historical, and philosophical dimensions of science, technology, and medicine.

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