The South China Sea (SCS) forms part of the Coral Triangle with high marine biodiversity. It is also a highly contested maritime area with overlapping claims by Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. This maritime route between the Indo-Pacific and Europe is of major importance for external trade of European countries, such as Germany, with 40 percent of its external trade passing through this route. As claimant states intensify efforts to assert territorial control through infrastructure development and military patrols, marine biodiversity and resource-dependent local communities are seemingly negatively affected.

Using methods from the fields of ecology, sociology, economics, and futurology, BÖLT Meer examines how geopolitical tensions in the SCS affect access to resources at the micro and macro levels and how a transdisciplinary research strategy in Germany and the EU can help secure access and preserve biodiversity in the SCS. BÖLT Meer has three main objectives: (1) mapping trends in restricted access to resources due to maritime harassment in coastal countries; (2) identifying the impacts of the SCS conflict and restricted access to resources on the blue economy of coastal countries; and (3) conducting a forward-looking analysis of terrestrial natural resources as alternative commodities to blue economy products affected by the SCS conflict. Overall, BÖLT Meer engages scientists from the EU and SCS riparian countries to promote peace in the SCS through science diplomacy.