ABSTRACT
The role of civil society in environmental governance generally increased markedly from the early 1990s as democracy took root in more countries (some of which have since experienced retrenchment toward less democratic, more authoritarian forms of rule). The growing influence of civil society has similarly been the case in marine governance. Civil society operates at all levels of governance – including the local, the regional and the international – through a wide variety of actors – from individuals and nongovernmental organisations to social movements and informal networks. Civil society actors operationalise their influence on marine environmental governance through various means, including diplomacy, advocacy, education, and provision of technical information. They have done so in a wide range of issues areas, such as management of fisheries, conservation of biological diversity, ‘policing’ activities on the high seas, and surveying – and sometimes cleaning up – pollution. Civil society actors have been successful in influencing marine environmental governance on many occasions; at others, they have been less successful.
