Longer-term strategies
In the second half of the UN Decade of Ocean Science, we propose a
greater focus on two strategies that we collectively called ‘incentives’
and ‘rules and regulations’. These two strategies directly guide
individual, community and business behaviours that impact ocean and
human health; for example, through modification of industry practices.
Successful implementation of the large number of actions aimed at
building marine citizenship in the first half of the UN Decade of Ocean
Science, will be necessary to prepare us for implementing the next set
of actions focused on guiding behaviours in a more structured way.
Some lead time may be needed to achieve behaviour change of resource
users, whether individuals or industry, especially if there are
regulatory changes or actions that need to filter through other systems
like the consumer market. To enable behaviour change, both a ‘stick’ and
‘carrot’ approach are likely to be needed (Box 3). Examples of carrots
are economic incentives which have a clear role alongside regulations
(sticks). Incentives can be provided by government, such as tax
incentives to provide food to the domestic rather than the export
market, or NGO-driven, such as promoting low ‘food miles’ as a way of
guiding food choice. Similarly, incentives could be entirely driven by
industry and the demand and preferences of their consumers, such as
extending product shelf life to increase the accessibility and safety of
products. Regulations can affect the behaviour of resource users very
directly through economic, social and fiscal policy and a variety of
other rules. For instance, stronger regulation around recycling, reuse
and reduction of waste are an important example on how we can aim
towards “Living & Connecting’. Many possible actions were identified
for ‘Incentives’ (23% of all actions identified) and ‘Rules and
regulations’ (21%) (Extended Data 1).
It is worth noting that actions implemented under the ‘rules &
regulations’ strategy may fail to achieve intrinsic attitudinal and
behavioural change which is required for long-term positive change if
they were undertaken in isolation (Cohen et al. 1994). This is why
positive reinforcement (incentives) where people are more likely to
internalise the motivation are required in parallel. Moreover, the early
to midterm ‘science and health communication’ and ‘knowledge exchange’
strategies will also help build intrinsic motivation which leads to
sustained engagement in desired behaviours beyond the provision of
initial incentives (Bardi and Schwartz 2003).