Challenges and Opportunities in Regional Governance of Ocean Ecosystems

The regional and sub-regional levels are critical components of multilevel ocean governance spanning local to global levels. Recently, the 2030 agenda and SDG 14 have focused attention on the importance of regional initiatives. Yet our understanding of what is in place for ocean governance in the many marine regions that comprise the global oceans is in the early stages. The transboundary arrangements that cover issues relating to sustainable use of ocean ecosystems, their effectiveness, the interactions among them, the roles of the various actors that comprise them and how they relate to the local, national and global levels below and above are all areas that require concerted effort for improved understanding and sharing of lessons learned. In this issue, we seek to explore these topics in greater detail using examples from the different regional ocean areas with the aim of furthering our understanding and especially pointing the way to the research that is needed to make overall global ocean governance more effective.
Building on the analyses of regional arrangements and coordination mechanisms by Mahon and Fanning and discussions at relevant ocean science-policy platforms such as the Marine Regions Forum we are seeking articles that explore topics relating to regional ocean governance architecture, performance and their connection with national and global levels.