BLUE ECONOMIES AND OCEAN GRABBING IN LATIN AMERICA
Issue Editors: Nemer E. Narchi, Gustavo G. M. Moura, and George Leddy Summary:This issue of Latin American Perspectives critically examines the expansion of the blue economy in Latin America, exploring the contradictions between promises of sustainable ocean development and the realities of capitalist accumulation, environmental degradation, and social dispossession. Through case studies from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Cuba, and Uruguay, contributors investigate how policies promoting industrial fishing, aquaculture, tourism, marine conservation, and coastal infrastructure development contribute to ocean grabbing, the privatization of marine resources, and the displacement of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and small-scale fishing communities. The articles highlight the historical and contemporary processes shaping coastal territories, the unequal distribution of environmental and economic burdens, and the strategies of resistance developed by marginalized communities. Emphasizing the principles of blue justice and social oceanography, the issue advocates for alternative approaches to marine governance that recognize traditional knowledge, cultural identities, collective territorial rights, and community participation, challenging dominant development models and envisioning more equitable and ecologically sustainable relationships with the ocean. TABLE OF CONTENTS | PURCHASE THIS ISSUE PodCast