Ocean and Coastal Management 192 (2020) 105187 Available online 30 April 2020 0964-5691/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Assessing policy coherence and coordination in the sustainable development of a Blue Economy. A case study from Timor Leste Michelle Voyer * , Anna K. Farmery, Lana Kajlich, Astrid Vachette, Genevieve Quirk University of Wollongong, Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), Building 233, Innovation Campus, NSW, 2522, Australia A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Blue economy Policy coherence Policy coordination Timor leste SDGs ABSTRACT The Blue Economy champions the sustainable development of ocean spaces. It is unclear whether this new concept requires a new set of governance principles and policies, or whether existing policy mechanisms can accommodate it. Using Timor Leste as a case study, we examine policy coherence and coordination across a range of maritime sectors. We do so through content analysis of formal instruments, such as legislation and policy documents, and semi-structured interviews with governance actors and organizations. We assess policy coher- ence by examining whether governance objectives are shared within and across existing sector-based policies, and the extent to which they are consistent with Blue Economy objectives. We explore policy coordination through network analysis of the connections between instruments as well as people. A number of gaps in the Timor Leste policy landscape are apparent, with weak governance around social objectives, particularly in the ports sector. In general, however, the existing governing system appears to be largely consistent with Blue Economy aspirations. In addition, there are existing, highly infuential policy documents and organizations that are already playing a critical bridging role between sectors. Strengthening connections between sectoral man- agement arrangements, through boundary organizations and amendments to existing instruments, may therefore be an effcient and pragmatic approach to Blue Economy implementation. This approach would allow more focused attention on plugging policy gaps and addressing defciencies in the existing system. 1. Introduction The term ‘Blue Economy’ is a relatively new, but increasingly infuential concept that frst emerged during the 2012 United Nations Convention on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), or Rioþ20 confer- ence. The Blue Economy is a sustainable development model that looks to the ocean to provide new economic opportunities, as well as poverty alleviation, food security and sustainable livelihoods. The Blue Economy is therefore seen as a tool through which multiple Sustainable Devel- opment Goals (SDGs) can be advanced (Lee et al., 2020). Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and some Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in particular have been amongst the earliest adopters of the Blue Economy concept as they look to their large ocean jurisdictions as new sources of economic opportunity (Voyer et al., 2018a; Keen et al., 2017; Purvis, 2015). Despite the growing interest in the Blue Economy, there is no agreed defnition and relatively little concrete guidance as to how it might be realized (Mulazzani and Malorgio, 2017; Bennett et al., 2019). As countries and regions around the world seek to ‘operationalize’ the Blue Economy vision there remains no universal approach or agreed frame- work. In particular, there is limited guidance on appropriate governance mechanisms, including how to adapt existing governance arrangements to enable implementation of the Blue Economy concept. In fact, the Blue Economy is the latest in a range of integrated maritime governance approaches that are already being employed in many jurisdictions around the world, such as marine spatial planning, integrated coastal zone management and regional marine planning (Schultz-Zehden et al., 2019). It remains unclear if and how the Blue Economy adds value to these existing approaches. A lack of clarity or guidance on the practical means of achieving Blue Economy objectives makes the concept vulnerable to competing and even conficting governance approaches. This is particularly signifcant for SIDS and LDCs with close relationships with donor bodies, aid pro- grams or regional organizations, with potentially conficting ideas about the objectives, sectors or outcomes which should be prioritized in a Blue Economy (Schutter and Hicks, 2019; Voyer et al., 2018a). Many different governance approaches have been used to progress Blue Economy aspirations to date. Approaches range from dedicating * Corresponding author. E-mail address: mvoyer@uow.edu.au (M. Voyer). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ocean and Coastal Management journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105187 Received 25 November 2019; Received in revised form 1 March 2020; Accepted 22 March 2020