Innovative financial mechanisms for coastal management in the Pacific: a state of the art

The need to generate wider interest in coastal management, and to identify new funds flows that can support costly coastal planning, management, and enforcement of regulations, is great. Innovative financing mechanisms are being borrowed from the terrestrial world, adapted for special use in the marine and coastal environment, where property rights are limited and where common pool resources necessitate continued access. Applying innovative financing instruments in the Pacific region holds promise, but examples of success are rare. This report reviews innovative financing mechanisms for marine and coastal conservation used around the world, assesses the processes that have led to use of innovative financing in the few cases that exist in the Pacific region, and makes recommendations for greater use of these powerful financing schemes to boost coastal management in the region.