article · npj Ocean Sustainability
Existing ocean justice scholarship has focused on distributive, procedural, and recognitional injustices within marine governance frameworks. However, these perspectives risk remaining incomplete without explicit attention to cognitive justice, defined as the hierarchies of knowledge systems that shape how oceans are understood, governed, and valued. Blue cognitive justice is introduced as a foundational yet under-articulated dimension of ocean justice. Addressing this dimension requires a distinct move away from tokenistic knowledge integration towards the full recognition, prioritisation, and epistemic self-determination of historically marginalised ocean knowledges. Engaging with cognitive justice in this manner is presented as essential for building more equitable and sustainable ocean futures.
Marine management often overlooks how power shapes whose expertise is valued. Incorporating cognitive justice encourages governance systems to move beyond superficial inclusion and genuinely respect the self-determination of marginalised knowledge holders. This shift helps ensure that ocean policies are not only ecologically sustainable but also socially equitable and grounded in diverse ways of understanding marine environments.
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Contemporary ocean justice scholarship has advanced crucial debates on distributive, procedural, and recognitional injustices in marine governance. Yet, these frameworks risk remaining incomplete without explicit attention to cognitive justice - the hierarchies of knowledge systems that shape how oceans are known, governed, and valued. This Perspective introduces blue cognitive justice as a foundational, but under-articulated, dimension of ocean justice. Blue cognitive justice demands a shift from tokenistic knowledge “integration” toward the recognition, prioritisation, and epistemic self-determination of historically marginalised ocean knowledges to work towards more equitable and sustainable ocean futures.
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DOI: 10.1038/s44183-026-00237-7
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