Fluid Institutions of Access: Sea Space as a Livelihood Resource in Coastal Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia is the world's largest producer of carrageenan seaweed, the cultivation of which is dominated by household operators and is transforming livelihoods in many coastal communities. Growing demand from the global food processing sector has rapidly transformed Indonesian coastal sea space into a commoditized livelihood resource, where access is governed by emergent, and highly fluid, institutions. Through an extensive ethnographic study in two coastal villages in South Sulawesi, we show how a new property rights regime is being created through evolving institutions of access (both formal and informal) in continual feedback with the livelihood strategies pursued by individual households. The ability to benefit from access to sea space, during a price boom, emerges from within multiple strands of intersecting power relations, producing a range of livelihood outcomes. This study contributes to debates on how rural livelihood opportunities are infused by the politics of access to natural resources, thus reshaping processes of agrarian change in coastal regions.