TRADEMARKING IN THE OCEAN: the cumulative impacts hosted by large port developments projects

• Grant number: 24/22305-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Support Program for Fixating Young Doctors
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Oceanography - Biological Oceanography
• Principal Investigator: Ronaldo Adriano Christofoletti
• Grantee: Andre Luiz Pardal Souza
• Host Institution: Instituto do Mar (IMar). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Baixada Santista. Santos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 23/01593-7 - Trademarking in the ocean: the cumulative impacts hosted by large port developments projects, AP.R

Abstract

Marine litter visually expresses a variety of overlapping conflicts incident in the coastal zone. The project Artisanal Fisheries and Marine Socioenvironmental Conflicts (OceanPact/FAPESP) identified, in a participatory process, widespread marine pollution and large development projects as the main conflicts on the São Paulo coast. It is within the port regions, global maritime transport bottlenecks, that marine pollution becomes more evident, despite its intended dissipation in the open marine system. Thus, the proximity of waste generation (population's consumption and destination) and the concentration of products in transit promoted by the ports are the main factors for a generalized degradation of the coastal zone near ports. We propose to deepen the look at the relations between marine debris and port licensing, taking two major Brazilian ports located in São Paulo's coastline. The hypothesis is that there are direct connections between the marine litter origins and the large development project being licensed. The relations to be mapped and analyzed include possible connections, casualties, gaps, outliers, tracking tools, "orphan waste", protocols, and other emerging findings. The results will contribute to the improvement of coastal management regulations, such as protocols, regulations, and legislations that apply concepts of circular economy, life cycle analysis, and product design, especially in port regions.