Governance Innovation for Coastal Wetlands: Dependencies, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Valencian Community

Coastal wetlands rank among the world’s essential ecosystems, and yet, despite decades of conservation efforts, they continue to face degradation, transformation, and loss. This ongoing decline underscores the need for innovative approaches to their governance. However, much of the existing literature remains broadly focused on littoral governance and does not address the specific challenges of coastal wetland planning and management. In response, this article provides a specific assessment of coastal wetland governance, examining challenges and opportunities across five key dimensions: land–sea management integration, scientific knowledge, stakeholder participation, strategic foresight, and digital tools. Grounded in the evolutionary governance theory and informed by a focus group and in‐depth interviews, the study explores the extent to which innovative strategies drive the evolution of governance in six protected littoral wetlands of the Valencian Community: l’Albufera, El Hondo, Lagunas de La Mata y Torrevieja, Marjal de Pego‐Oliva, Prat de Cabanes‐Torreblanca, and Salinas de Santa Pola. The findings reveal that the opportunities linked to dependencies in the Valencian context can help to overcome barriers to innovation, particularly in the areas of scientific knowledge, stakeholder involvement, and e‐governance tools. Notably, common obstacles persist across the five dimensions, including the lack of coordination between government bodies, rigid regulations, frequent political changes, and funding instability, all of which underline the critical importance of addressing institutional and organizational dependencies.