What natural and social scientists need from each other for effective marine environmental assessment: insights from collaborative research on the Tomakomai CCS demonstration project.

Mabon, Leslie; Kita, Jun; Onchi, Hiromitsu; Kawabe, Midori; Katano, Toshiya; Kohno, Hiroshi; Huang, Yi-Chen

Abstract

We propose actions to guide collaboration between ‘natural’ and ‘social’ science disciplines in marine environmental issues. Despite enthusiasm for interdisciplinarity on environmental issues, institutional and disciplinary barriers remain for interdisciplinary working in practice. This paper explores what natural and social scientists need from each other for more effective impact assessment in the marine environment. We reflect on collaboration between natural- (especially marine biology) and social scientists (especially environmental sociology) researching the Tomakomai CCS Demonstration Project in Japan; including subsequent expansion of the research team and wider evaluation of project outcomes. We identify two areas of mutual support: community and stakeholder engagement on marine monitoring; and identification of points in regulatory/policy processes where qualitative findings may gain traction alongside quantitative results. We suggest interdisciplinary collaboration for marine environmental research could be helped by making time to learn from each other within projects; and by working together more closely in the field.

Citation

MABON, L., KITA, J., ONCHI, H., KAWABE, M., KATANO, T., KOHNO, H. and HUANG, Y.-C. 2020. What natural and social scientists need from each other for effective marine environmental assessment: insights from collaborative research on the Tomakomai CCS demonstration project. Marine pollution bulletin [online], 159, article ID 111520. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111520

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 24, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Aug 7, 2020
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2020
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 8, 2021
• Journal: Marine Pollution Bulletin
• Print ISSN: 0025-326X
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-3363
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 159
• Article Number: 111520
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111520
• Keywords: Impact assessment; Interdisciplinarity; Marine social science; Sub-seabed carbon dioxide storage
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/960512