Connecting social protection with fisheries management and conservation
Active Project
Annabelle Bladon
Senior researcher (fisheries), Shaping Sustainable Markets research group
Annabelle works at the intersection of aquatic food systems and marine conservation, with a focus on small-scale fisheries and their value chains, and the communities they support.
Much of her research is focused on reducing the social and ecological trade-offs inherent in fisheries management and conservation interventions. She tackles the design, implementation and evaluation of incentives for sustainability in small-scale fisheries – including through social protection and labour market interventions, economic inclusion, and payments for ecosystem services.
She is also interested in solutions to fill the gap in finance required to transition to sustainability and equity in fisheries and the wider blue economy, including fiscal tools and sustainable business models.
Annabelle has experience working on these issues in Bangladesh, Myanmar, East Africa, the UK, the Caribbean and the Western Indian Ocean.
Expertise
Small-scale and artisanal fisheries; aquatic food systems; compensation and incentives; social protection; marine protected and conserved areas; payments for ecosystem services; economic valuation; conservation finance.
Before IIED
- Independent consultant and associate at Innovations in Conservation, LLC (ICONS), New York
- Visiting researcher at New York University, University of Oxford, and IIED.
- Worked with a range of public and private organisations including UNDP and FAO, Conservation Finance Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bahamas Protected Area Fund, WorldFish, the Zoological Society of London, and the Bangladesh and Cayman Islands governments.
Education
- PhD in Marine Conservation Science, Imperial College London
- MRes in Ecology and Environmental Management, and BSc (Hons) Biology, University of York
Current work
Mitigating the negative impacts of the UK’s aquatic food system on the rest of the world; accelerating incentives for sustainable fisheries; linking social protection to fisheries management; assessing how fiscal tools can be used to support sustainable and inclusive fisheries; exploring innovative financing mechanisms for marine protected and conserved areas.
Projects
