Asymmetrical Contributions to the Tragedy of the Commons and Some Implications for Conservation

Jacquet, Jennifer; Frank, David; Schlottmann, Christopher

doi:10.3390/su5031036

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(29 reference statements)

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“…The average annual revenues of the 160 largest companies in 2012 ( Fig 1 ) exhibit a distinct keystone pattern (cf. [ 9 ]), where the top ten per cent account for 38% of total revenues. Their annual revenues also increased substantially between 2007–2012 ( Fig 1 ) illustrating the on-going consolidation process within the global network of seafood production.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fact that individual actors can have a disproportionate impact on the environment is well known [ 5 – 7 ] and has recently been investigated in relation to greenhouse gas emissions [ 8 ]. While such “asymmetries” have been related to the keystone concept in general [ 9 ], this paper focuses on investigating the seafood industry in particular.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this paper, we analyze whether or not a keystone pattern [ 9 ] can be observed in the relationship between transnational corporations and marine ecosystems globally, from a combined ecological, economic and policy perspective. If such actors operate analogous to keystone species, they would not only have a disproportionate ability to steer the direction of the seafood industry but also to shape the world’s marine ecosystems and how they are managed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transnational Corporations as ‘Keystone Actors’ in Marine Ecosystems

et al. 2015

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Keystone species have a disproportionate influence on the structure and function of ecosystems. Here we analyze whether a keystone-like pattern can be observed in the relationship between transnational corporations and marine ecosystems globally. We show how thirteen corporations control 11-16% of the global marine catch (9-13 million tons) and 19-40% of the largest and most valuable stocks, including species that play important roles in their respective ecosystem. They dominate all segments of seafood production, operate through an extensive global network of subsidiaries and are profoundly involved in fisheries and aquaculture decision-making. Based on our findings, we define these companies as keystone actors of the Anthropocene. The phenomenon of keystone actors represents an increasingly important feature of the human-dominated world. Sustainable leadership by keystone actors could result in cascading effects throughout the entire seafood industry and enable a critical transition towards improved management of marine living resources and ecosystems.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transnational Corporations as ‘Keystone Actors’ in Marine Ecosystems

et al. 2015

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“…While there is a growing literature associated with seafood and its associated sustainability challenges (SI Appendix, Text S1), Jacquet et al (13) argue that addressing these challenges requires appreciation of asymmetrical impacts on sustainability from disproportionally large actors. The first step of the process of emergence described here consisted of an empirical case study designed to identify corporations with direct influence on marine ecosystems at the global level.…”

Section: The Scientific Process: An Empirical Starting Pointmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of a global science–business initiative for ocean stewardship

Österblom

Jouffray

Folke

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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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.coproduction | governance | learning | resilience | transformation S ustainability science is becoming a mainstream scientific approach for understanding and addressing the global and interconnected challenges currently facing humanity (1, 2). A key component of sustainability science is to collaborate with actors outside of academia to codesign and codevelop an understanding of the challenges and their corresponding solutions (2, 3). Local and regional examples illustrate how sustainability scientists have engaged with society as change agents (4, 5) and the challenges associated with such engagement (3,4,6,7). In this context, however, there has been limited attention devoted to large-scale private actors (8). Existing studies primarily focus on how major brands invest in-and benefit from-sustainability initiatives (9), or analyze how and when voluntary commitments to sustainability may influence corporate behavior (10, 11). Little is known about how scientists can engage with corporations and how knowledge can be transferred from science to action by the private sector.In the following, we present our experience from a coproduction process with large transnational seafood corporations, aimed at stimulating transformative change in the seafood industry, and the subsequent emergence of a global initiative for ocean stewardship. Here, ocean stewardship is viewed as an adaptive and lear...

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“…Vessel owners enter the PO because, as Hardin puts it, 'each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain' (Hardin, 1968(Hardin, , p. 1244. Also, the PO institutional structure lacks rules that indicate who is responsible, which is necessary when attempting to address any common dilemma (Jacquet et al, 2013). As POs depend on membership production, self-centered members are often left unpunished, which creates general inertia and lack of confidence in the PO.…”

Section: Conclusion and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%