Dr. Elizabeth De Santo, EIUI team member and Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, presented two papers at the 58th annual conference of the International Studies Association in Baltimore on 22-25 February 2017. Close to 6,000 people participated in the meeting, which provides a key forum for social scientists on a range of subjects, including environmental politics, to present their research and exchange ideas. This year, the theme of the conference was “Understanding Change in World Politics.”
Elizabeth’s first paper, entitled “Promise and perils for marine protected areas (MPAs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ),” examined the ongoing political process for biodiversity conservation in ABNJ, i.e., on the high seas and underlying seabed. This paper was part of a panel on “Governance in a Changing Ocean: Areas beyond National Jurisdiction,” for which Oran Young, Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, served as the discussant. Having read the papers in advance, he provided valuable feedback to the panelists and led a discussion that tied the papers together and included audience participation. Elizabeth’s paper is the basis for a chapter in a forthcoming volume on Governing across the Waves, edited by Rebecca Pincus, to be published by the University of Chicago Press.
The second paper Elizabeth presented was “California dreaming: Challenges of implementing science-based MPA planning processes in different political contexts,” for the panel on “Ocean Resources and Governance Challenges: Looking to New Maritime Frontiers.” Beth DeSombre, Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, served as the discussant. She is also the author of Chapter 13 in the 2016 EIUI book Science, Policy and Information Interface for Effective Coastal and Ocean Management. Elizabeth’s paper is the second from a project she has been conducting on the national system of marine conservation zones in the United Kingdom, focused on lessons learned from the planning process implemented there, based largely on a model developed in California. This project has been examining stakeholder inclusion mechanisms and the role of evidence in MPA site selection and designation.
Copies of the papers are available from Elizabeth, upon request (edesanto@fandm.edu).
Photo caption: From left to right: Beth DeSombre (Wellesley College), Elizabeth Nyman (Texas A&M University), Jennifer Bailey (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir (Bates College), Elizabeth De Santo (Franklin & Marshall College)
