Summary

This doctoral thesis by Priyatma Singh at Linköping University and member of the Mistra Geopolitics Research School, offers novel and critical contributions to ocean governance by engaging seriously with questions of justice, power, and indigenous and local knowledge – issues that are central to sustainability transformations in Small Island Developing States.

Acute issue in the Pacific Islands

The sustainable governance of ocean spaces remains a pressing challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where fragmented and sector-based management has long constrained the effectiveness of ocean governance. In these settings, multiple institutions often operate in isolation, pursuing competing priorities with limited coordination, resources, and accountability. These issues are particularly acute in the Pacific Islands, where vast ocean territories, customary marine tenure, and deeply rooted cultural values intersect with complex governance realities shaped by political and market-oriented forces.

In response to these challenges, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) offers an ecosystem-based, integrative framework for reconciling ecological, social, and economic objectives in marine and coastal governance. Marine spatial planning contributes to long-term sustainable development by providing guidance regarding how the sea should be used.

Key messages

• The findings demonstrate that the effectiveness of marine spatial planning in SIDS depends on robust collaborative mechanisms underpinned by facilitative leadership, clearly defined legal mandates, strong institutions, and social capital that bridges formal and informal governance systems.
• Yet, the Pacific context presents distinct governance challenges, including colonial legacies of centralized authority, limited stakeholder ownership, overlapping institutional responsibilities, and low public awareness of MSP that constrain the transformative potential of MSP and risk perpetuating top-down approaches.
• Even so, MSP in this region has the potential to become a transformative governance instrument, precisely because of the Pacific’s remarkable ecological, cultural, and institutional diversity. Rather than a barrier, this diversity could serve as the foundation for a collaborative, polycentric, and adaptive governance architecture, in which multiple islands, customary authorities, and local institutions operate as interconnected nodes of innovation, learning, and resilience.
• In practical terms, this transformation requires legal recognition of customary marine tenure, resourcing local communities for meaningful participation, and empowering boundary organizations and communities of practice to bridge governance processes across scales.