Resolving conflict due to negative environmental externalities from marine renewable energy developments to marine protected areas using cooperative game theoretic allocation rules

The increasing demand for marine space makes conflict avoidance through single use zoning of incompatible uses or multi-use zoning of strictly compatible uses increasingly impossible. Because of this, coexistence of... [ view full abstract ]

The increasing demand for marine space makes conflict avoidance through single use zoning of incompatible uses or multi-use zoning of strictly compatible uses increasingly impossible. Because of this, coexistence of (partially) incompatible uses has already become an option giving rise to conflicts that cannot be avoided and need to be resolved. Here a case of co-locating marine renewable energy (MRE) developments with marine protected areas (MPAs) is examined, where the negative environmental externalities caused by the first to the second can be addressed through environmental or monetary compensation as a conflict resolution mechanism. Such mechanism should ensure fair, win-win coexistence guaranteeing that both current and future potential losses of conservation benefits are covered. This assumption is better captured by the Net Gain goal of mitigation strategies in contrast to the No Net Loss one which has prevailed so far. Considering the above, a hypothetical example is used where it is demonstrated how cooperative game theoretic allocation rules can be used to adequately estimate the type and size of such compensation. An important conclusion is that the effectiveness of such a mechanism requires among other the best knowledge of the changes in the current and future MPA value in order to accurately calculate possible losses due to coexistence. Such a finding is also highlighting the prevalence of the importance of marine science in addressing complex multidisciplinary research questions, such as the ones examined in the present study.