Joan Moranta
PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of the Balearic Islands.
Senior scientist at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO, CSIC).
Founding member of alimentta, think for the food transition.
Currently, I am involved in three main research lines:
- Fish littoral ecology and conservation of coastal ecosystems: the main objectives of this line of research are: i) understanding the factors affecting settlement and post-settlement processes of littoral fishes within nursery habitats; ii) understanding the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of juvenile littoral fishes related to three dimensional habitat structure and protection; iii) improving the knowledge on the relative contribution of the environmental and anthropogenic factors affecting littoral fish populations to better the management and conservation of coastal fish species.
- Challenges and perspectives to move towards sustainable and inclusive food systems: Alimentta uses expert knowledge and an interdisciplinary approach adapted to the Mediterranean environment, from low impact farming and fishing systems, healthy diets and public policy. So far, we have published nine reports on these disciplines, four of them related to fisheries. A scientific paper analysing the carbon footprint of the hake supply chain in Spain has been published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.
- Transformative socio-economic actions to halt biodiversity loss and climate change mitigation: perpetual economic growth, necessary to maintain today’s capitalist societies, requires a continuous and ever-increasing consumption of materials and energy. Climate change and biodiversity loss are two of the planetary biophysical limits that we have already crossed. A large body of empirical evidence shows that unlimited economic growth is the main driver of biodiversity loss in the Anthropocene; thus, we strongly argue for sustainable degrowth and a fundamental shift in societal values. An equitable downscaling of the physical economy can improve ecological conditions, thus reducing biodiversity loss and consequently enhancing human well-being.
