Project Details
Description
Sand is the substrate on which the Netherlands constructs itself. It is an economic resource, a key material for coastal defense, a site of cultural heritage, and a point of contact with nature. Sand illuminates the tension between static-extractivist ontologies, often dominant in state-led marine governance, and more marginalized fluid-relational ontologies: it is cultural heritage as tidal flats, dunes, and dikes; it is an economic resource, extracted for coastal suppletion, where it forms the interface for a wide variety of nature relations; it is a metaphor for temporariness and exemplifies liminality, blurring the boundaries between land, island, shoal, and sea. This study will use sand as a boundary object to examine the paradigms, or onto-epistemologies, of stakeholders in the Wadden and Dutch North Seas. Onto-epistemologies are assumed to be foundational for governance, so examining them could improve our understanding of marine spatial planning (MSP) and its strengths and limitations for governing such a dynamic phenomenon as sand. The first part of this study will describe the onto-epistemologies of Wadden Sea stakeholders, from local residents to decisionmakers. The second part will examine the factors that most strongly influence these onto-epistemologies. The third part will examine MSP in the Netherlands, especially as it relates to the governance of sand. The fourth and final part will reflect on opportunities to align Dutch marine governance more closely with the dynamic realities of Wadden and North Sea socio-natures.
Status | Active |
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Effective start/end date | 1/02/23 → … |
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