Unveiling the genesis of a marine spatial planning arena in Brazil

Abstract

A novel blue planning discourse has been elevated through marine spatial planning (MSP) discussions in Brazil since 2011, following the evolution of international ocean governance policy innovation in the past decades. This paper investigates the early evolution stages of a socio-political arena around MSP in Brazil using as reference the IOC-UNESCO's step-by-step approach. It also employs the interactive governance theory to describe and analyze the challenges and opportunities in four phases in the evolution of a MSP policy arena at the Brazil's Blue Amazon level; and discuss it in terms of five major functional governability narratives this trajectory evoke to actors in this new interactive governance playing field. The evolution of Brazilian MSP arena was triggered by discussions at the international level (Phase I – 2011 to 2012), which encountered some resistance until it was reframed under a new formal intra-governmental institutional building process (Phase II – 2012 to 2013). Following a rapid surge and apparent early advances in MSP discussions (Phase III - 2014), the final (current) Phase IV can be characterized by the quiescence of the innovation process led by federal government, and the rise in numbers and diversity of agents in the MSP policy arena. It is noted with this analysis that Brazil is behind the international schedule on MSP, as it is still struggling in the ‘articulation and framing phase’. The analysis of thirty-four challenges and opportunities identified in this trajectory shows that improving functional capacities to govern (governability) the ocean in Brazil will require all actors to: (1) streamline cross-network knowledge-exchange to improve the nascent MSP arena; (2) further understand institutional dynamics impeding policy integration; (3) foster a more symmetrically responsive ocean governance arena; (4) promote coordinated scaling through principle-based policy-building and; (5) strengthening critical but proactive civil society participation at multiple, interrelated area-based ocean governance innovation frontlines. The accumulated capacities shared by existing knowledge-to-action networks in Brazil may render the emerging arena a dynamic, creative, and regional ocean learning experiment.