Project

Imatge per: Laia Ventayol-García

ERC Consolidator Grant

Ocean Crime Narratives: A Polyhedral Assessment of Hegemonic Discourse on Environmental Crime and Harm at Sea (1982-present) – OCN

Horizon Europe, European Comission, 2022-2027.

GA 101043711.

1st October 2022 – 30th September 2027

Funding: 2.000.000 €.

Principal Investigator: Dra. Marta Puxan-Oliva

Since the introduction of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982), narratives on environmental harm and crimes have changed how we view ocean governance, sustainability and human rights, coming together to shape an international hegemonic discourse. Today there is an underexamined emerging corpus of contemporary literature and cinema in different languages that focuses on environmental crime narratives at sea, contested national and international jurisdiction, the devastating impacts on sustainability and the threats to human rights posed by environmental crimes, and the uncertainty in determining the lines between crime and harm. Nonetheless, literature and film are only one element of the discourse since the issue is the main focus and subject of environmental policies, laws and treaties, as well as scientific papers. 

How do discourses in the cultural and scientific arenas jointly create conceptions, arguments and ideas underpinning current international policies and policy negotiations around environmental crime and harm at sea? 

OCN seeks to respond to this challenge through three goals: 

  • Analysing narratives on environmental harm and crime at sea in a new, hitherto unexamined corpus of post-1982 literary and film productions 
  • Undertaking a new narrative analysis of discourses on environmental harm and crime at sea for dissemination and governance, from a combined perspective of oceanography, environmental criminology and political ecology 
  • Producing a multi-faceted assessment of hegemonic international discourse on environmental harm and crime at sea today. 

OCN approaches this corpus based around three areas of harm and crime, and their impacts: 

  • The exploitation of biological and mineral marine resources 
  • Toxic waste and plastic dumping 
  • Harmful climate change effects on oceanic ecosystems. 

The project incorporates interdisciplinary analysis of discursive practices in order to provide a fresh and comprehensive approach to hegemonic international discourse on environmental crimes at sea, with a view to identifying definitions and problems, and safeguarding the future sustainability of our oceans. 

Funded by the European Union. Nevertheless, the expressed views and opinions are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the grant authority may be held liable for them.