Ecological economics and sustainable governance of the oceans

This paper is an introduction and synthesis of the papers that appear in this special issue devoted to the sustainable governance of the oceans. The special issue contains papers on various aspects of the problem, including: the ecological and economic importance of the oceans, the problems facing the oceans from an ecological economics perspective, the links between science and policy, the rationale for sustainable ocean governance, and examples of sustainable institutions and governance structures. We developed the ‘Lisbon principles’ of sustainable governance (responsibility, scale-matching, precaution, adaptive management, full cost allocation, and participation) as a core set of guidelines for sustainable ocean governance. We then describe the major problems facing the oceans in terms of how the principles are violated, and evaluate some suggested institutions in terms of how the principles are incorporated.