Navigating raja ampat’s customary and formal policy integration of marine protected areas in building sequencing governance

Abstract

Managing Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Global South is especially interesting, given their unique, authentic, and socio-cultural approaches, not reliant on formal government. Focusing on Raja Ampat’s MPA, which is ranked the highest in Indonesia’s management performance, with the sasi traditional customary system serving as a primary support mechanism for MPA administration in the region. However, this performance still falls below the threshold of being considered sustainably managed, indicating ongoing governance challenges such as the lack of sustainable funding and the lack of comprehensive regional resource monitoring. Policy sequencing emerges as an intentional policy design tool for crafting smarter, more adaptive regulations toward sustainability, within the broader context of climate governance across time and levels of governance. This study aims to develop a policy sequencing model as a mechanism for incrementally increasing policy stringency and feasibility, with the goal of progressively enhancing sustainable marine governance within the Global South context. This study applies both primary and secondary data through stakeholder interviews and literature review, with policy interventions classified according to their categories: supporting, foundational, and advanced. A clear sequencing pattern is identified: NGOs provided foundational interventions through marine ecological assessments and initiated the MPA proposal; local communities engaged through the Deklarasi Tomolol, integrating customary areas into formal conservation zones; and the government formalized the recognition of local knowledge through regional regulations. Advanced policies including result-based payments (RBP) and science-based monitoring are recommended to address funding gaps and external pressures such as climate change and industrial waste. Policy sequencing offers a structured pathway of foundational, supporting, and advanced policies, enhancing coordination among actors and promoting synergy between instruments.