Transformation Across Land‐Sea Governance: Future Research Opportunities

 Transformation is heralded as a solution to the diverse and interconnected crises threatening natural
 environments and the livelihoods of those who depend on them. Coastal governance does not exist in a
 vacuum, and integrated land‐sea governance systems are a potential solution to the triple planetary threat of
 climate change, increasing pollution and biodiversity loss. A systematic literature review was undertaken to
 identify whether transformation is understood in a consistent manner across land‐sea governance systems
 and to identify the status of knowledge regarding transformation across these scales to identify future
 research priorities. The results suggest that transformation is an emerging concept in freshwater governance
 compared to the well‐established discussions of saltwater governance transformations. Of the 135 articles
 identified, 26 explicitly identified transformation, with only one article not positioning transformation as a
 radical social change, suggesting that a shared definition is emerging across the land‐sea interface. A total of
 62 case studies of transformation were identified across saltwater and freshwater environments, with
 articles detailing case study analyses of tools and approaches for transformation numbering 34, suggesting
 that place‐based knowledge and analyses of transformation are well established in the literature, but that
 the tools or approaches to change are fragmented. These findings suggest a growing but uncoordinated
 body of work, which emphasises the need for future research into shared definitions, the role of transitional
 waters such as estuaries, and the governance landscapes that create transformation.