Seascape shadows: Life in the ruins of the edible bird's nest harvest in northern Palawan, the Philippines

The intensifying extraction, privatization, and conservation of maritime spaces are transforming seascapes globally. Amidst rapid coastal change and the ambiguous reconfiguration of oceans as frontiers are coastal dwellers who occupy the shadows of these seascapes. In contrast to the capture of high-profile marine species, the harvest of the edible nests of balinsasayaw (swiftlet, Aerodramus fuciphagus) remains largely concealed at the interstitial spaces between land, coast, and sea. In the Philippines, harvesters known as busyador negotiate social relations, political networks, and karst systems to extract these lucrative nests. Despite the nest industry growing in value in Southeast Asia, we show how the busyador struggle in precarious social relations and spaces peripheral to coastal governance in northern Palawan Island. Building on the concept of ‘seascape assemblages’, we emphasize the importance of the less visible human-nonhuman relations that shape the nest harvest and trade. We trace the marginal social histories of the balinsasayaw by highlighting the precarious nature of the harvest, revealing how the busyador are subject to unfair working conditions, dispossession, and violence. We argue that as state actors and local elites reconfigure oceans as frontiers for development and conservation, struggles over labour and tenure rights, livelihood opportunities, and justice at sea are disregarded.

Conserving migratory waterbirds and the coastal zone: the future of South-east Asia's intertidal wetlands

South-east Asia's diverse coastal wetlands, which span natural mudflats and mangroves to man-made salt pans, offer critical habitat for many migratory waterbird species in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. Species dependent on these wetlands include nearly the entire population of the Critically Endangered spoon-billed sandpiper Calidris pygmaea and the Endangered spotted greenshank Tringa guttifer, and significant populations of several other globally threatened and declining species. Presently, more than 50 coastal Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) in the region (7.4% of all South-east Asian IBAs) support at least one threatened migratory species. However, recent studies continue to reveal major knowledge gaps on the distribution of migratory waterbirds and important wetland sites along South-east Asia's vast coastline, including undiscovered and potential IBAs. Alongside this, there are critical gaps in the representation of coastal wetlands across the protected area networks of many countries in this region (e.g. Viet Nam, Indonesia, Malaysia), hindering effective conservation. Although a better understanding of the value of coastal wetlands to people and their importance to migratory species is necessary, governments and other stakeholders need to do more to strengthen the conservation of these ecosystems by improving protected area coverage, habitat restoration, and coastal governance and management. This must be underpinned by the judicious use of evidence-based approaches, including satellite-tracking of migratory birds, ecological research and ground surveys.

An Endless Endeavor: The Evolution and Challenges of Multi-Level Coastal Governance in the Global South

We used Brazil as a Global South case study to analyze the evolution of the coastal governance in a young and still unstable democracy. Based on twenty-five years of documentation related to a federal-level actor interaction hub named Coastal Management Integration Group (GIGERCO) we explored the opportunity context for the transformation of the Brazilian coastal governance system using a Theory of Transformative Agency to identify five periods of evolution. The coastal governance system shifted from an exploitation to a conservation phase (periods 1 to 3), where an increasing number of actors were getting to know the system and each other’s interests turned into a moment of higher stability and resistance to change. The mobilization of social capital and higher heterogeneity of actors allowed novel strategies to emerge, generating opportunities for structural changes from a conservation towards a release phase (period 4). We argue that the recent political changes in Brazil caused a rupture in such a flourishing coastal governance process (period 5), which is now at a critical juncture that may unfold into one of three envisioned alternative scenarios: conservative regime, a new integrated and ecosystem-based regime, or a remanent of past regime properties. Our paper informs coastal governance processes across the world, highlighting the dynamic nature of the interplay between alternative institutional entrepreneurship strategies, opportunity contexts, and innovations in governance systems.

Piekrastes pārvaldība Latvijā: pārvaldības ietvara attīstības pārskats

The coastal territory is a complex socio-ecological system (SES), which needs to be governed using an integrated approach. Integrated coastal management (ICM) is considered as the main approach in coastal governance, offering a holistic view of the coastal zone by integrating different governance sectors and governance levels, but ICM is not a fixed approach and should be adopted to meet each particular unique national and local situation. Full scale ICM in Latvia is not applied, but the following problems are recognized as most significant in the coastal territory: the lack of qualitative infrastructure and the lack of good governance; the local level coastal SES is studied, monitored and evaluated insufficiently as well as good practice examples are not communicated enough. In the current study, the exploration of the legisla-tive regulations and planning documents was conducted, therefore, the main research methods are docu-ment studies and expert interviews. Both the vertical and horizontal integration were assessed for the coastal governance, as well as overview of ICM developments in the modern history of Latvia. In order to understand the situation of the coastal governance in Latvia, the scheme of coastal dune protection zone was prepared, based on Latvian coastal legislation, however it is often difficult to depict different protec-tion zones in practice in such a dynamic and changing territory as a coastal zone.

Municipal coastal governance system development: Triple governance dimensions principle

Integrated coastal governance (ICG) is becoming increasingly important nowadays, since the problems at coastal territories are continuously growing. The coastal zone, however, is a complex socio-ecological system which is extremely difficult to govern because it is very dynamic territory that is also very sensitive to various anthropogenic influences, as well as a lot of conflicts of interest occur there. Coastal area is characterized by a unique and diverse natural and cultural heritage as is the case with Jurmala municipality in Latvia. An integrated approach is important in the governance of such a complex socio-ecological system, but disciplinary/branch approaches are also necessary. The aim of the research was to study and evaluate the complex situation of the coastal governance at the local level, as well as to develop policy proposals for the chosen target territory – Jurmala municipality – and its main target groups. These studies included the analysis of the legislative acts and planning documents, interviews with all the main target groups in the municipality, observation studies, as well as the initial assessment of the coastal governance situation in the Jurmala municipality by using the model of three environmental governance dimensions: (1) coastal governance sectors; (2) coastal governance segments (stakeholders); and (3) coastal governance instruments.

Municipal integrated coastal governance approach: complimentary disciplinary instruments and collaboration pre-conditions

Municipal coastal governance practice also in Latvia has various limitations, and taking into account growing climate change adaptation challenges, new understanding and new approaches are to be studied and tested. Overall study frame is based on research-and-development approach. The aim of the research was to study how municipal coastal governance is functioning in practice, particularly, in the relation to the coastal dune protection zones (150/300 m) and further coastal territory behind that, applying whole list of governance instrument groups – political/legal, planning, and especially institutional instruments, also financial, infrastructure and, last but not least, coastal communication instruments. This was done via research-and-governance frame of the three coastal governance dimensions – governance content, stakeholders (governance segments) and governance instruments, realized in Jurmala municipality as especially nature-culture rich and due to tourist attraction also sensitive coastal pilot territory at the Latvia coast. Case study research methodology applied (document studies, observation and stakeholder’s interviews) were approving pre-study understanding, based on previous coastal governance studies, that also this territory with international coastal resort status and well developed municipal administration capacities have limited success on integrated coastal management (ICM) approach implementation and, subsequently, there are requirements on further development of disciplinary instruments and also collaboration governance as ICM preconditions. An integrated ICM approach was internationally designed and approved also for EU coastal countries, since comprehensive requirement to manage the adequate governance of the coast as complex socio-ecological system, but old shaped long existing traditional disciplinary/branch approaches of former and formal municipal planning and management does not really permit necessary innovations with cross-sectorial and cross-level integration perspectives. However, also orientation towards re-use and/or re-development of disciplinary ICM instruments, especially, to be designed and realized as complementary as possible and collaboration governance developments shall be seen as necessary pre-conditions for ICM adequate development.

The ‘wickedness’ of governing land subsidence: Policy perspectives from urban Southeast Asia

Drawing on Jakarta, Metro Manila and Singapore as case studies, we explore the paradox of slow political action in addressing subsiding land, particularly along high-density urban coastlines with empirical insights from coastal geography, geodesy analysis, geology, and urban planning. In framing land subsidence as a classic ‘wicked’ policy problem, and also as a hybrid geological and anthropogenic phenomenon that is unevenly experienced across urban contexts, the paper uses a three-step analysis. First, satellite-derived InSAR maps are integrated with Sentinel-1A data in order to reveal the socio-temporal variability of subsidence rates which in turn pose challenges in uniformly applying regulatory action. Second, a multi-sectoral mapping of diverse policies and practices spanning urban water supply, groundwater extraction, land use zoning, building codes, tenurial security, and land reclamation reveal the extent to which the broader coastal governance landscape remains fragmented and incongruous, particularly in arresting a multi-dimensional phenomenon such as subsidence. Finally, in reference to distinct coastal identities of each city–the ‘Sinking Capital’ (Jakarta), ‘Fortress Singapore’, and the ‘Disaster Capital’ (Manila) the paper illustrates how land subsidence is portrayed across the three metropolises in markedly similar ways: as a reversible, quasi-natural, and/or a highly individualized problem.

Integrating climate change adaptation in coastal governance of the Barcelona metropolitan area

Coastal cities are exposed to high risks due to climate change, as they are potentially affected by both rising sea levels and increasingly intense and frequent coastal storms. Socio-economic drivers also increase exposure to natural hazards, accelerate environmental degradation, and require adaptive governance structures to moderate negative impacts. Here, we use a social network analysis (SNA) combined with further qualitative information to identify barriers and enablers of adaptive governance in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By analyzing how climate change adaptation is mainstreamed between different administrative scales as well as different societal actors, we can determine the governance structures and external conditions that hamper or foster strategical adaptation plans from being used as operational adaptation tools. We identify a diverse set of stakeholders acting at different administrative levels (local to national), in public administration, science, civil society, and the tourism economy. The metropolitan administration acts as an important bridging organization by promoting climate change adaptation to different interest groups and by passing knowledge between actors. Nonetheless, national adaptation planning fails to take into account local experiences in coastal protection, which leads to an ineffective science policy interaction and limits adaptive management and learning opportunities. Overcoming this is difficult, however, as the effectiveness of local adaptation strategies in the Barcelona metropolitan area is very limited due to a strong centralization of power at the national level and a lack of polycentricity. Due to the high touristic pressure, the legal framework is currently oriented to primarily meet the demands of recreational use and tourism, prioritizing these aspects in daily management practice. Therefore, touristic and economic activities need to be aligned to adaptation efforts, to convert them from barriers into drivers for adaptation action. Our work strongly suggests that more effectively embedding adaptation planning and action into existing legal structures of coastal management would allow strategic adaptation plans to be an effective operational tool for local coastal governance.

Environmental Degradation in Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean in the world spanning over an area of 73,556,000 Square. kilometers, that covers three continents, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Pakistan is an emerging strategic and geopolitical significant state of the South Asia; it has 1046 kilometers of coastline across the Arabian Sea, a region of Northern Indian Ocean. The country’s largest province ‘Baluchistan’ possesses 800 kilometers of coastline, whereas remaining 246 kilometers is in ‘Sindh’ province. The level of marine pollution is extremely high in Karachi, an economic hub and populous port city of the Sindh. The Karachi Port harbour area is full of toxic pollutants until they are evaporated or settle down at the bottom. The objective of this paper is to highlight the dilemma of marine pollution in Pakistan's coastline especially in the port city of Karachi. The study is aimed to provide remedial measures to preserve endanger rare marine species of Pakistan’s territorial waters. The paper will also provide an empirical and theoretical overview of coastal governance in Pakistan.