Regional oceans governance mechanisms: A review

Abstract

The development of regional governance for the protection of the environment, sustainable use of natural resources and conservation of its biodiversity is unquestionably a cornerstone of international environmental law and policy. With regard to marine and coastal issues, it has mainly been taking place through Regional Seas programmes, Regional Fishery Bodies and Large Marine Ecosystems mechanisms. Based on a similar geographical approach, however, these regional mechanisms raise concerns relating to their coordination and efficiency, and possibly overlap in what they aim to achieve. This paper provides a review of existing regional oceans governance mechanisms, assessing their individual and collective capacities to move towards ecosystem-based management, and highlighting options to make the regional landscape more coherent and effective.

SIDS and environmental governance in the Anthropocene

“…The book adopts a constructivist approach to norms dynamics in international relations Sikkink, 1998, 2001) and traces the way that global norms are understood and applied in each of the thematic chapters. It uses discourse from the international and global environmental governance literature to identify and describe the agency (Biermann et al, 2010, Bearce and Bondanella, 2007, Bulkeley, 2005, norms, structures, regimes and governance architectures (Biermann et al, 2010, Hearns et al, 2014, Pattberg and Widerberg, 2015, Rochette et al, 2015, Kim, 2013, Lister et al, 2015, Saito-Jensen, 2015 in each of the thematic areas, and their application, interaction, insertion in or rejection by the Caribbean SIDS. The chapters describe how unique historical, cultural and economic contexts have added new levels of complexity to the way global environmental norms, principles, mechanisms and regimes have been deployed or not deployed for Caribbean SIDS.…”

“…Other than very good insights into marine governance (Fanning et al, 2009, Pittman et al, 2015, Turner et al, 2014, the complex issues of environmental governance from an international relations/global political economy perspective are, with a few good exceptions (Turner et al, 2014, Chan and Flanigan, 2017, Scobie, 2012, Pittman et al, 2015, Rochette et al, 2015, Scobie, 2017a, insufficiently addressed in the scholarly literature. This book is designed to fill this gap.…”

Evaluating the potential for transboundary management of marine biodiversity in the Western Indian Ocean

“…Regional Seas Programs have been established by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) (from 1974) to manage the seas as shared resources, and at present, almost 150 states across 18 regions participate in them (Rochette et al 2015). Political and ecological regions outside the WIO show similar political complexities, where multiple countries, which are highly diverse socio-economically, share marine space and species.…”

Evaluating the potential for transboundary management of marine biodiversity in the Western Indian Ocean

“…Comparison with other regions Regional Seas Programs have been established by UNEP (from 1974) to manage the seas as shared resources, and at present almost 150 states across 18 regions participate in them (Rochette et al 2015). Political and ecological regions outside the WIO show similar political complexities, where multiple countries, which are highly diverse socio-economically, share marine space and species.…”