J'adore ma mer*: How plural values and pro-ocean behaviors of the Tahitian tourism industry can bring us closer to and help protect the ocean

Sammanfattning

With four years left to fulfill the goals of the UN’s Ocean Decade, it has become increasingly important to find solutions for the threats our oceans are currently facing. French Polynesia has the largest marine protected area in the world and relies heavily on tourism for development. Through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the tourism industry in Tahiti, I study their role in marine conservation. I use the Nature Futures Framework to explore the plural ocean values held by actors in tourism and connect their values to the actions they deem important for ocean sustainability. The connection between participants’ plural values and pro-ocean behaviors (both current and future) supports the idea of developing human-ocean relationships to improve the use and management of marine resources. Identifying stakeholders within the tourism sector as agents in marine conservation and recognizing their values towards the ocean can help further promote pro-ocean behaviors across sectors.