Global Ocean Governance and Policy: Are Current Trends in Research and Collaboration Networks Invigorating toward Sustainable Ocean Futures?

The recognition of the ocean as a key to creating sustainable development and livelihood futures has created an opportunity to chart inclusive ocean governance and policy frameworks. Yet, with the ever-changing promulgation of different ocean governance mechanisms, frameworks, and policies, the identification and operationalization of comprehensive and feasible governance and policy mechanisms might be missed. A bibliometric analysis of 2,078 documents were conducted to explore trends in research to assess their robustness towards sustainable ocean futures. Findings revealed that research on ocean policy and governance has increased. The publication of ocean governance research by/in top journals has increased. However, research leadership is dominated by authors/institutions from developed coastal states. Multi-country publications are few. The frequency score of critical themes, such as environmental justice is low. Only 6 percent of research is specifically focusing on ocean governance. 1 percent of authors’ keywords emphasize stakeholder engagements. Themes have shifted from ecosystem-based approaches to regional issues, such as marine spatial planning. A regional divide among authors and country-level collaborations exists. Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) have not been emphasized. Nevertheless, recognition of the need for integrated ocean governance approaches has increased. This study identified five collaborative ocean governance and policy leverage points that could drive sustainable ocean futures: socio-cultural, economic, institutional, environmental, and technological. The leverage points are coiled around the five sustainable ocean development pillars. These can aid the identification of transformative and evidence-based governance and policy mechanisms that ameliorate inhibitors for inclusive and collaborative development of sustainable ocean governance and policy pathways across geographies.