The concept of integrated national maritime policy and its application to Saudi Arabia

Abstract

As marine governance in most countries is sectoral, maritime policies are frequently fragmented and sometimes even contradictory, resulting in marine resources being inefficiently used and poorly protected. To avoid these problems by harmonizing the different maritime sector policies, the concept of Integrated National Maritime Policy (INMP) has been developed. INMP has been introduced or is being considered for introduction in more than 30 countries, and this article investigates its main features and applies it to the case of Saudi Arabia. Based on extensive fieldwork carried out in the Kingdom-including interviews with officials in government departments with maritime responsibilities, and a survey administered to 230 stakeholders-this article examines the arguments for introducing an INMP into the country; the obstacles to its introduction; and ways of overcoming those obstacles.