Thank you to all conference delegates and participants for making this conference such a successful event.

 

The conference material is now available...

 

It is imperative to transform the way humankind impacts and relies on the oceans, and ocean governance needs to assume a transformative role. In order to do so, ocean governance needs to be transformed. The Institute for Coastal and Marine Research (CMR), SARChI Law  of the Sea and Development in Africa and the SARChI Marine Spatial Planning at the Nelson Mandela University, in collaboration with the One Ocean Hub (OOH) and International Ocean Institute (IOI), hosted the Transformedand Transformative Ocean Governance Conference (TTOGC). This event took place from 22-24 January 2020. The conference was held at the Nelson Mandela University's North Campus Conference Centre, and the cocktail function on the evening of the first day presented the perfect opportunity to showcase the Ocean Sciences Campus. A total of 90 delegates representing seven countries, attended this event.

The aim of the conference was to provide a forum for a wide range of ocean experts and stakeholders to engage with the latest developments impacting on ocean governance from development, ecosystem-based and human-rights-based approaches, before starting to reflect and give direction on what transformed and transformative ocean governance means and requires.

We were delighted to have a fantastic group of international presenters - all experts in their ocean-governance-related fields:

  • Professor Christina Hicks - Lancaster University
  • Dr Wesley Flannery - Queen's University Belfast
  • Mr Paul Holthus - World Ocean Council
  • Dr Kimberley Peters - University of Liverpool
  • Dr Daniela Diz - University of Strathclyde
  • Professor Philip Levin - University of Washington
  • Professor Kevern Cochrane - Rhodes University
  • Dr Peter Jones - University College London
  • Professor Patrick Vrancken - Nelson Mandela University
  • Professor Amanda Lombard - Nelson Mandela University
  • Dr Bolanle Erinosho - University of Cape Coast Ghana
  • Professor Lena Gipperth - University of Gothenburg

Dr Dylan McGarry and Ms Taryn Pereira Kaplan co-chaired the civil society panel discussion. This panel was made up of Ms Sherelee Odayer (South Durban Community Environmental Alliance & groundWork), Mr Khalid Mather (WildOcean), Mr Christian Adams (Small Scale Fisher Representative) and Dr Kira Erwin (Urban Future Centre). Ms Claire Roussell from Stories of Seed did a fantastic graphic harvesting job, where she summarised each talk and the discussions through artwork and text. Professor Heila Lotz-Sitsika from Rhodes University's Chair in Global Change and Social Learning Systems, facilitated the plenary discussion before the conference was officially closed. The SABC and various reporters covered this event.

This conference was run as a single-use plastic free event. A representative for the Giving Them Wings Foundation had an exhibit at the conference, detailing their school outreach programmes and environmental education activities. In an attempt to offset carbon footprints for travelling to the conference, delegates were urged to donate funds towards this foundation to assist them in planting trees and gardens around underpriveleged schools.

 

 

Contact information
Professor Patrick Vrancken
Incumbent of the South African Research Chair in the Law of the Sea and Development in Africa
Tel: 27 41 504 2200
Patrick.Vrancken@mandela.ac.za

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