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Blue economy, marine markets and marine spatial planning

Filippa Säwe and Cecilia Fredriksson close to the camera. Photo.
Filippa Säwe and Cecilia Fredriksson organized the conference together with Johan Hultman.

What is the sea in marine spatial planning and how does it affect our future? In a one-day conference the results and work of two finished Formas projects was presented with the theme ”Blue economy, marine markets and marine spatial planning”.

On the schedule for the day was lectures on marine spatial planning, beaches and the possibilities of seaweed with speakers from Lund University, Malmö University, Kristianstad University and Copenhagen University, the city of Helsingborg, the city of Simrishamn and the Institute of Food Science Research in Madrid. The day ended with a discussion about the topics and the future, and a tour of RecoLab in Helsingborg where the conference was held.

The two projects were financed by Formas and was led by the professors Cecilia Fredriksson and Johan Hultman at the Department of Service Studies together with researcher Filippa Säwe at Malmö University. The projects started in 2018 and finished in 2022.

Marine food resources for new markets

The project is a multidisciplinary collaboration between social science, natural science and engineering at Lund University and is a part of the national research program for new foods in a circular and bio based economy. The project raised the questions: ”In what forms and contexts can algae be introduced and create added value?”, ”What biotechnical processes can be accepted by the consumer?” and ”What is required for new foods or ingredients to reach a larger market?”. Through qualitative research on entrepreneur’s and consumer’s opinions on seaweed and algae, the researchers could discuss the future of seaweed as food and its role on the food market. There is a growing interest in seaweed and it coincides with an interest in the environment and sustainable lifestyles.

– Seaweed is a contradictory phenomenon. Seaweed and algae are described as healthy and useful, but also as dirt and toxic. Seaweed are perceived as timeless and trivial, but is often presented as authentic and forward looking, said Cecilia Fredriksson during one of the presentations.

Participants in the project: Cecilia Fredriksson, Filippa Säwe, Charlotta Turner, Eva Nordberg Karlsson, Madeleine Jönsson, Annabell Merkel and Thamani Freedom Gondo

Methodological development for capturing qualitative values in maritime spatial planning

The aim of the project was to understand how marine spatial planning acknowledges different interests, how the sea is seen as a resource, and how environmental planning can include non-measurable values. The central concept of the project is ecosystem services, i.e. the benefits that the society can gain from nature. Through interviews and document analysis the project has analysed how marine spatial planners in municipalities along the Swedish Öresund coast uses ecosystem services in their planning. The result shows that the sea is an object of planning that is hard to get to know and understand. 

– The overall thought model in marine spatial planning treats society and nature as two separate spheres, something that makes a holistic point of view difficult in achieving the goal of a sustainable development. We need a new way to think about planning society and the environment, maybe even a new language to capture the bigger picture and the relationships between the human and the non-human, said Johan Hultman.

Participants in the project: Johan Hultman and Filippa Säwe.

People drinking coffee. Photo.
Mingle with attendees before the conference starts.
Two people standing on a stage at the far end of the room in front of a crowd. Photo.
Cecilia Fredriksson and Filippa Säwe opens the day.
One person standing on a stage at the far end of the room in front of a crowd. Photo.
Stina Bertilsson, City of Helsingborg, presents their work on marine spatial planning.