Controlling the coast

This paper conceptualizes the coast as commons and treats the implications of collective governance driven by the characteristics of coastal commons. Institutional control is essential, and two key institutions – state and local resource management institution – are central to the control of the coast as every other institution, from international aid agencies to private sector and non-government organizations, must go through them to develop and manage the coast. In the practice of institutional control, spatial management critical to integrated coastal management and ecosystem-based management emerges as an innovative approach to the success of coastal management.