Partnerships for the Governance of Coastal Resources: A Literature Review

This working paper takes stock of the academic literature on the governance of
coastal resources and examines the emergence of various instruments, their
implementation experiences and their implications in terms of sustainability
outcomes. More specifically, it seeks to interrogate the literature in order to: (1)
highlight the types of actors involved, their relations and their networks; (2) identify the main processes involved in the governance of coastal resources and different partnership models; and (3) evaluate the outcomes of these processes on social and ecological sustainability. It is the result of activities undertaken by the New Partnerships for Sustainability (NEPSUS) research and capacity building project, which analyses sustainability partnerships in three key natural resource sectors in Tanzania: forestry, wildlife and coastal resources. This paper reviews the overall literature on governance of coastal resources, with the aim of identifying gaps and shaping methodological choices for fieldwork.