Entangled? Linking governance systems for regional-scale coral reef management: Analysis of case studies in Brazil and Indonesia

Increasing anthropogenic impact on coastal and marine resources has led to extensive and sometimes irreversible damage of coral reef ecosystems. Decentralization and strengthening the role of local communities and non-governmental actors promises great advantages for governance, but marine ecosystems and resources are affected by drivers of change that lie outside the reach of small-scale approaches. This has caused strong drawbacks for their success. The multi-level governance approach thus incorporates the socio-economic, political and ecological interconnectedness to achieve sustainable outcomes at larger scales. It particularly highlights the need for integrating different levels of decision-making and emphasizes the need of continuous cross-level interaction to address uncertainty and dynamic change in coastal and marine Social-Ecological Systems. This research examines marine governance in Brazil and Indonesia from a multi-level perspective to address the degradation of coral reef ecosystems and their associated flora and fauna. A policy analysis is conducted at the national level in Brazil and Indonesia to analyze the recent developments and examine the overall umbrella frameworks with regards to how effectively they enable the participation of resource users and balance between the needs of marine resource dependent local populations and conservation objectives. In light of the current developments in literature, this research then examines how governance actors are entangled across levels and scales for regional marine governance in two case study areas in Brazil and Indonesia. The results of the study contribute to improve understanding of how to link a growing number of actors across multiple jurisdictions and quasi-autonomous governance units and identify points of leverage to facilitate integrated multi-level marine governance.