Embracing change: Leveraging Indonesia’s transition towards sustainable ocean development

Indonesia has taken policy interventions to better govern and manage its vast ocean and coastal areas, including issuing a national ocean policy in 2017 and developing a series of blue economy plans since 2019. However, the country is facing persistent implementation challenges in managing its ocean sustainably, including inadequate capacity and readiness for human resources, finance, infrastructure and technology. To address these gaps, this study performs a novel analysis using lesson-drawing theory as the research theoretical framework, aiming to improve sustainable ocean development policies in Indonesia.The thesis responds to the question ‘What lessons can be drawn from domestic and international experiences in designing and implementing ocean policy and blue economy concepts to advance future sustainable ocean development policies in Indonesia?’ This question is addressed through a critical analysis of key government policy documents and relevant literature on sustainable ocean development, followed by analyses of 32 semi-structured interviews with ocean governance experts from Indonesia and overseas. Document analysis and reflexive thematic analysis are employed to examine qualitative data from the desktop studies and interviews, respectively. These methods provide a flexible approach to applying the lesson-drawing theory in the ocean governance study at the national level.The originality of this research lies in its methodological approach and its capacity to unveil a contextualised transition strategy to improve Indonesia’s sustainable ocean development policies. By moving beyond a traditional comparative analysis approach, this study provides an effective tool for identifying lessons from other maritime countries and assessing their applicability to the Indonesian context. This study also features the first global assessment of blue economy development, highlighting common strategies and approaches adopted by maritime countries to institutionalise and operationalise the sustainable ocean development concept at the national level.The analysis reveals that countries adopt national ocean policy and the blue economy with varying approaches to their shared challenges. These approaches and challenges conflate into three ocean governance conundrums: achieving integration, meeting ocean sustainability demands and adopting effective implementation strategies. These conundrums guide the analytical process in identifying and classifying lessons learnt that are relevant to Indonesia. Accordingly, five thematic areas on how to improve sustainable ocean development policies in Indonesia have been identified in this research: building state capacity, applying an integrated approach to ocean governance, gaining the whole nation’s support, advancing sustainability and constructing effective policy design. These thematic areas have been refined into 15 identified lessons that can improve future ocean policymaking in Indonesia.A major contribution of this study is the confirmation of the key determinants of successful policy implementation, especially state capacity. This is demonstrated by study findings indicating that most lessons fall under the ‘siren call’ category, which is highly desirable, but less practical in the Indonesian context. This study further advocates for Indonesia to take a transition pathway towards sustainable ocean development. Indonesia can begin with lessons categorised as ‘low-hanging fruit’, such as advancing sustainable ocean finance and strengthening transparency and accountability. Then the country can pursue medium-term priorities by developing state capacities—particularly preparing a future maritime workforce—before proceeding with more complex lessons in the longer term. This transition pathway helps Indonesia to strategically design sound policy, focusing on utilising effective implementation strategies to avoid the ‘policy on paper trap’.To expedite the transition to sustainable ocean development in Indonesia, four policy recommendations are proposed: (i) investing resources to optimise the outcomes of low-hanging fruit lessons (ocean finance and digitalisation), (ii) initiating long-term investment on human capital, (iii) raising ocean awareness and (iv) revisiting ocean institutional arrangements and legislative frameworks. Ultimately, this research concludes that resolving the policy implementation issues is the most strategic intervention needed for Indonesia in transitioning towards sustainable ocean development.