Sustainable Governance for Strengthening Coastal Community Economies Based on Blue Economy: Evidence from Southwest Papua Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Southwest Papua Province presents a paradox between substantial marine potential (16.63 million kg fish catch; USD 1.12 million fisheries-tourism exports) and persistent coastal poverty (16.95%; rural-urban gap of 25.9% vs 8.03%), suggesting that the principal constraint lies in governance rather than resource availability. This study analyses how sustainable governance shapes coastal blue-economy development in Southwest Papua through Lafferty’s (2004) five-dimensional framework. A qualitative embedded single-case study was conducted in Raja Ampat Regency, Sorong Regency, and Sorong City. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 28 purposively-selected informants, participant observation, focus group discussions, and document analysis, analysed thematically through open, axial, and selective coding using NVivo. Coastal governance is normatively oriented toward sustainability but empirically unconsolidated. Formal institutions exist yet remain sectoral (none of 25 coastal programmes is cross-OPD); implementation lacks learning cycles; results-orientation is administrative; only 10.9% of community aspirations are realised as programmes (2.2% for customary institutions); and sectoral integration is fragmented. The principal challenge is the disconnection among institutional design, implementation, results-orientation, participation, and policy integration. Strengthening coastal economies requires a coherent, adaptive, inclusive, and integrated governance system. This study operationalises Lafferty’s framework in a plural-institutional context where customary, state, and market institutions intersect, applying integrative visualisation to diagnose sustainable governance quality.