Aligning bottom-up initiatives and top-down policies? A comparative analysis of overfishing and coastal governance in Ghana, Tanzania, the Philippines, and Thailand

Edo Andriesse, Kristian Saguin, Austin Dziwornu Ablo, Jawanit Kittitornkool, Chaturong Kongkaew, Jerry Mang'ena, Paul Onyango, Victor Owusu, Jeasurk Yang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

As coastal communities across the Global South confront the multiple challenges of climate change, overfishing, poverty and other socio-environmental pressures, there is an increasing need to understand diverse coastal governance responses and livelihood trajectories from a comparative perspective. This paper presents a holistic investigation of the pressures coastal communities face in four countries and examines possible meeting points between bottom-up initiatives and top-down policies. We compare the experiences of eight fishing areas in Ghana, Tanzania, Thailand and the Philippines and ask how small-scale fishing communities perceive overfishing and other socio-environmental pressures; what factors determine the success and failure of coastal governance initiatives; and how different initiatives can be made congruent to improve coastal, rural development outcomes. Results from an extensive survey of 835 fisherfolk and semi-structured interviews with 196 key informants show that overfishing remains a significant driver of livelihood trajectories in the communities and that fisherfolk respond through informal mechanisms of collective action. Drawing from these diverse experiences, we propose viewing coastal livelihood trajectories through the integrated dimensions of socio-environmental relationships and coastal governance options and discuss implications that address institutional scalar flexibility, illegal fishing, and persistent marginalisation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)404-414
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Rural Studies
Volume92
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

Keywords

  • Coastal governance
  • Coastal livelihood trajectories
  • Overfishing
  • Small-scale fisheries
  • Socio-environmental pressures

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