Marine Spatial Planning and the loss of traditional power in Fiji and the Cook Islands

Bibliographic Data

ID20153564
AuthorsRoxane De Waegh (Auckland University of Technology Auckland New Zealand), Nathaniel Wilson (University of College London (UCL) London UK), Lucas Watt (0000-0001-7599-3586, Chr. Michelsen Institute Bergen Norway, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume45
Issue3
Pages563-580
Publication date2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSingapore Journal of Tropical Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0129-7619 • E-ISSN: 1467-9493
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/sjtg.12564
OpenAlexW4401919210
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited57

A rapidly expanding area of marine space in the Pacific is being assessed under a process known as Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). Through the political process, MSP brings together an assemblage of national governments, private organizations and local communities to define how marine spaces should be governed. MSP results in numerous new marine spatial categories that delimit an area according to the respective principals and rules decided upon. The authors of this article argue that traditional powers to make and enforce decisions concerning the governance of marine spaces have been weakened through the political process of MSP in the Pacific. The responses that emerged from conducting qualitative semi‐structured interviews with participants in Fiji and the Cook Islands indicate that indigenous marine authority is being undermined through manipulation of the MSP process. The findings further revealed an underlying recognition that the MSP process has proven to be incapable of equitably weighing indigenous Pacific Islanders’ interests in relation to the economic, environmental and security interests of external ocean stakeholders. The authors further argue that external ocean stakeholders can successfully pursue their own objectives through the MSP process in ways that bypass indigenous authority

Business · Corporate governance · Economics · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Indigenous · Marine spatial planning · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Process (computing) · Sociology · Space (punctuation) · Coastal and Marine Management · Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies · Ecology · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law

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