DECOLONIAL COASTAL MANAGEMENT - A CONCEPT UNDER DEVELOPMENT

• Grant number: 25/00827-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Leandra Regina Gonçalves Torres
• Grantee: Vitor Renck Maciel
• Supervisor: Christopher Cvitanovic
• Host Institution: Instituto do Mar (IMar). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Baixada Santista. Santos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/08372-6 - Decolonial coastal management and socio-environmental conflicts in the Jubim Traditional Fishing community, Marajó Archipelago, PA, BP.PD

Abstract

The coastal management model that has been implemented in Brazil dates back to the 1980s. It has neocolonial and paternalistic characteristics and is centralized in the role of the State, perpetuating inequality and marginalization of artisanal fishers, traditional coastal communities and their local knowledge. We argue that we need to change this coastal management model, promoting an alternative one that is at the same time just, sustainable and aligned with the aspirations of local inhabitants. Therefore, our main goal during the research internship abroad is to develop an understanding, elaborate on and demarcate the term "decolonial coastal management", based on expert elicitation. These goals will be accessed through a mixed-methods approach, where we will use some participatory research methods, such as (a) participant observation during coastal management related events, and (b) semi-structured interviews with academic experts/researchers, coastal managers and policy makers to understand the modus operandi of conventional coastal management being done locally, regionally, nationally and globally. We also intend to build a bibliography reading map with key concepts to have a better understanding of decolonial coastal management. During the internship abroad, I expect to fill in this scientific gap and add those discussions to my FAPESP project. We wish the outcomes of this project may serve as inspiration for public and private coastal and marine management initiatives. (AU)