Reshaping Global Ocean Governance Discourses Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Strategic Insights -

Research investigators have recently published a study that explores how global ocean governance discourses have been reshaped during the first half of the United Nations' Ocean Science Decade (2021-2030). The study focuses specifically on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the negotiation of the High Seas Treaty. Drawing on Critical Fantasy Studies and the Nature Futures Framework, the researchers analyze how political fantasies, or affectively charged visions that underpin policy action, structure competing imaginaries of future oceans. The study identifies three dominant fantasies of future oceans: the ocean as saviour, the known ocean, and re-connecting with the ocean.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped global ocean governance discourses, with a focus on the impact of the pandemic on the negotiation of the High Seas Treaty.
  • The researchers identify three dominant fantasies of future oceans, including the ocean as saviour, the known ocean, and re-connecting with the ocean, each offering a distinct vision of future governance.
  • The study shows how these fantasies mobilize political action by combining utopian promises with dystopian fears, and how they sustain or challenge dominant policy trajectories.
  • The research contribution is highlighted as a novel framework for understanding the emotional, ideological, and political investments underpinning international environmental agreements.
  • The study suggests that the fantasies of salvation and scientific mastery may perpetuate policy deferrals, while imaginaries grounded in relational values open space for more transformative, justice-oriented governance.

Statistics:

  • The study examines major policy texts, interviews, and participant observations to analyze the dominant fantasies of future oceans.
  • The researchers identify three dominant fantasies of future oceans: the ocean as saviour, the known ocean, and re-connecting with the ocean, each representing a distinct vision of future governance.
  • The study shows that these fantasies mobilize political action by combining utopian promises with dystopian fears.
  • The research concludes that the dominant fantasies of future oceans sustain or challenge dominant policy trajectories.

Sources:

  • NewsRx. Researchers from Stockholm University Report Recent Findings in COVID-19 (Changing Marine Imaginaries During Covid-19 and the Ocean Science Decade: a Study On Political Fantasies). Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA. November 2, 2025; p 459.
  • International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics. Changing Marine Imaginaries During Covid-19 and the Ocean Science Decade: a Study On Political Fantasies. 2025.
  • Stockholm University. Department of Political Sciences. Aysem Mert.