Researchers from Universidade Nova publish manifesto in defence of the oceans

20 July, 2022

An alert for the impacts and damages of the overexploitation of the oceans, signed by a group of Portuguese researchers, was, on July 1st, submitted to the UN, in the scope of the Oceans Conference.

The manifesto “The Humanities for the Oceans” was signed by researchers from the 4-Oceans project, from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, which is led by Cristina Brito, a researcher who was distinguished in 2020 with a European Research Council grant worth 10.4M euros. Other signatories are CHAM, the History Centre of the University of Lisbon, the UNESCO Chair Ocean’s Cultural Heritage, and the Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities.

According to the signatories, current scientific research on the past of the oceans reveals that the continued exploitation of the marine environment has, “in an increasingly unequivocal manner”, resulted in “profound negative impacts”, particularly on populations and ecosystems. In this sense, they defend that the Humanities area should “see its central role in the understanding of the Oceans recognized, and as a contribution to the advancement of science”.

According to information available on the university’s official website, “NOVA FCSH has worked in the strategic area of the oceans from different research units and projects of national and international relevance”, of which the signatory groups of this manifesto are an example.