This comprehensive handbook provides a detailed and unique overview of current thinking about marine governance in the context of global environmental change. Many of the most profound impacts of global environmental change, and climate change in particular, will occur in the oceans​. It is vital that we consider the​ role of marine​ governance in adapting to and mitigating these impacts. This comprehensive handbook provides a thorough review of current thinking about marine environmental governance, including law and policy, in the context of global environmental change. Initial chapters describe international law, regimes, and leadership in marine environmental governance, in the process considering how existing regimes for climate change and the oceans should and can be coordinated. This is followed by an exploration of the role of non-state actors, including scientists, nongovernmental organisations, and corporations. The next section includes a collection of chapters highlighting governance schemes in a variety of marine environments and regions, including coastlines, islands, coral reefs, the open ocean, and regional seas. Subsequent chapters examine emerging issues in marine governance, including plastic pollution, maritime transport, sustainable development, environmental justice, and human rights. Providing a definitive overview, the Routledge Handbook of Marine Governance and Global Environmental Change is suitable for advanced students in marine and environmental governance, ​environmental law and policy, and climate change, as well as practitioners, activists, stakeholders​, and others concerned about the world’s oceans and seas.

Table of Contents:
PART 1. Introduction 1. The growing challenge for marine governance: global environmental change PART 2. International law, regimes, and leadership in marine environmental governance 2. The global oceans regime: the law of the sea and beyond 3. The climate-oceans nexus: oceans in the climate regime, climate in the oceans regime 4. The legal implications of ocean acidification: beyond the climate change regime 5. Regimes for ocean management: regional seas programmes and blue-carbon habitats 6. Blue dimensions of the European Green Deal: climate action at sea 7. Leadership: actors and their strategies in marine environmental governance PART 3. Non-state actors in marine environmental governance 8. Experts: scientific knowledge for ocean protection 9. Civil society: nongovernmental organizations, public opinion, and individuals 10. Private governance: the case of Marine Stewardship Council certification in Russia 11. Private-sector investors: climate action and blue carbon financing PART 4. Governing marine environments and regions 12. Vulnerable nations and communities: accounting for those most dependent on the seas 13. Coastlines and nearshore habitats: interactive governance in an era of global environmental change 14. Islands: rising seas, vulnerable shorelines, and territorial integrity 15. Coral reefs: the case for social-ecological reflexivity 16. Fisheries and aquaculture in Southeast Asia: managing the impacts of climate change 17. The Baltic Sea and global environmental change: best-in-class governance? 18. Governance of the Black Sea: institutional arrangements for managing the impacts of global environmental change 19. Polar seas: governing extreme change in the Arctic and Southern Oceans 20. Oil pollution and black carbon in the Arctic: dynamic shipping governance in a rapidly warming region 21. The high seas: adapting to changes in pelagic ecosystems PART 5. Emerging issues in environmentally sustainable marine governance 22. Plastic pollution: the challenges of uncertainty and multiplicity in global marine governance 23. Maritime commerce and transport: the imperfect match between climate change and the International Maritime Organization 24. Global change and the development of sustainable floating cities: regulatory and legal implications 25. Oceans and seas for sustainable development: challenges of global environmental change for SDG14 26. Ethics, justice, and human rights: normative considerations in marine environmental change PART 6. Conclusion 27. Prospects for marine governance in the Anthropocene: portents from the climate regime