Climate change is rapidly transforming the ocean with disproportionate impacts on vulnerable societies in least developed countries. Concurrently, the expansion of area-based conservation is also transforming our ocean. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can be effective tools to build local social-ecological resilience to climate stressors and provide other societal benefits. However, if poorly implemented, marine conservation can also lead to inequitable outcomes, compromising the wellbeing of vulnerable coastal peoples and undermining long-term conservation success. The urgency and magnitude of climate change impacts and implications of inequitable conservation expansion necessitate robust, evidence-based strategies and policies at multiple scales.

The FRB-CESAB project BLUE JUSTICE will produce original, solution-oriented research based on the synthesis of multiple existing, and newly assembled, global datasets on social and ecological conditions in marine systems. Specifically, we will examine the relationship between marine conservation governance and social-ecological outcomes, generating novel insights on the conditions that promote equity and climate resilience in vulnerable coastal groups (including women and Indigenous groups), and produce the first global evidence-base on innovative pathways towards greater equity and resilience in marine conservation.

The post-doc is expected to:

• Assemble and manage global datasets on social and ecological conditions in marine systems to examine the relationship between climate vulnerability, marine conservation, and equity across local to global scales;
• Synthesize knowledge to develop evidence-based guidance on linkages between equity and resilience through conservation planning, implementation, and monitoring;
• Lead peer-reviewed papers based on this work;
• Assist the coordination of the BLUE JUSTICE project;
• Contribute to the building, standardization and management of a shared database among project partners;
• Work alongside project partners to generate a practical and feasible multi-sector engagement strategy to implement and scale up best practices for improving equity, maximizing conservation outcomes, and building climate resilience.