Conservationist geopolitics: Brazilian foreign policy and the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary

The purpose of this article is to analyze the proposal of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary (SAWS), presented by Brazil in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The article discusses the SAWS proposal as part of Brazil’s foreign policy strategy, instead of looking at the technical aspects rel...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine policy 2020-10, Vol.120, p.104054, Article 104054
Main Author: Marcondes, Danilo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brazil
International Whaling Commission
South Atlantic
Whales
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The purpose of this article is to analyze the proposal of the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary (SAWS), presented by Brazil in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The article discusses the SAWS proposal as part of Brazil’s foreign policy strategy, instead of looking at the technical aspects related to the merit of the proposal from a strictly environmental perspective. The article makes the claim that the proposal can be understood as part of a broader Brazilian diplomatic effort to construct a specific identity for the South Atlantic Ocean space, one that is particularly related to the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS, in Portuguese). By looking at the role of Brazil in proposing the SAWS, the article also sheds light into Southern agency in issues related to ocean governance, international cooperation and environmental protection. The research benefited from interviews with Brazilian diplomats involved with the IWC and access to Brazilian diplomatic communication related to the IWC in the 2000–2016 period.
ISSN:0308-597X
1872-9460
DOI:10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104054