ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some international cases to examine how coastal communities are successfully leveraging and navigating the multi-level governance networks in which they are embedded. The governance of social-ecological systems generates a wide range of challenges because coastal systems and human communities are tightly connected, and because those linked systems of people and nature are characterised by uncertainty, cross-scale interactions and feedbacks. Synthesis and reflection of cases highlighted four main ways that communities are leveraging and navigating multi-level governance networks: investing in local place and building networks from the bottom up; creating innovative partnerships; engaging with bridging organisations and shadow networks; and mobilising knowledge in multi-level networks to empower local voices and conserve ecosystems. Experiences with the four strategies reveals a number of insights for scaling up and across governance networks in ways that may support major shifts in the processes and institutions through which societies make decisions about the coastal commons.
