Ocean grabbing occurs when traditional users, such as small-scale fishers, are pushed aside by new development activities. This grabbing must be prevented to avoid sea uses that maintain or increase social inequity. In this paper, we show that in tropical Atlantic countries, such as Brazil and Senegal, examples of ocean grabbing already occur. In this context, we analyse if Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) may be an opportunity to limit ocean grabbing or, to the contrary, poses a risk to increase it. MSP calls for an ecosystem approach that requires integrated coastal and marine management and involves stakeholders in developing a shared vision of the future, where society and environment are preserved. However, recent studies have shown that MSP is a process to be used cautiously to ensure equitable decisions. Meanwhile, the concept is spreading worldwide including in tropical Atlantic countries. We highlight that context matters and the specificities of the tropical Atlantic must be taken into account when deploying MSP processes. In the tropical Atlantic context, there is increased imbalances of stakeholder power, traps from decision support tools, and a need for adaptive management. These specific features must be addressed when deploying MSP in a way to avoid ocean grabbing.

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Pó:"-doutora e doutora em direit-o ambiental pela Universidade Paris 1 ~ Panthéon-Sorbonne. Professora do \'f~:srrado em Direito J\mbienlal da t:nivcrsidadc do Estado do Amazonas (UEA) e do J\lesuado em Direito da Universidade Católica de Santús (Unisantos).

In this article, we examine the existing governance of the Amazon and the potential for more robust collaborative governance involving the countries of the Amazon region and other stakeholders. Our focus is the metagovernance of the (multilevel and fragmented) national governance systems that have proven incapable of controlling the environmental and social harms affecting the region. We focus our transnational analysis on the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and our intranational analysis on Brazil (which has sovereignty over the greatest part of the Amazon). We explore the governance challenges, and point to possible ways to address them. | INTRODUCTIONThis article explores governance arrangements intended to ensure the social and environmental sustainability of the Amazon. To 'govern' someone or something is to control or manage it, to limit risks or improve performance. Governance designates the legitimate exercise of ongoing control (i.e. management and supervision, etc.) over a social system (e.g. a country, community or organization) to direct how it behaves and ensure its integrity. 1 'Governance' in this article refers to the processes and systems used to manage institutions that affect the Amazon.'Metagovernance' refers to the overarching institutional arrangements that govern a governance system-that is, 'governance of governance'. An institution comprises government or private rules, together with the organizations and processes that create, interpret, modify and implement them. Metagovernance can exist at local, regional, national or transnational levels and is particularly important when governance authority is independently exercised by organizations (e.g. delegated or shared authority). A country's environmental and social governance is often fragmented spatially, with power and authority distributed to its states or regions, and also fragmented by topics (i.e. separate instruments and authority exist for different environmental or social issues) or fragmented both spatially and topically. Amazon governance is also fragmented transnationally, as it is carried out by different countries. The metagovernance challenge is to supervise and manage the effectiveness and integrity of these fragmented arrangements, at all levels. This article examines the existing governance of the Amazon through the lens of metagovernance and the potential for a more robust collaborative approach involving the countries of the Amazon region and other governance stakeholders. We focus our transnational analysis on the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).Because the bulk of the Amazon is located within the territory of Brazil, we pay particular attention to that jurisdiction, whose governance illustrates issues that affect the Amazon countries. Our evidence is drawn from international agreements (ACT and ACTO), official websites, reports and official documents and an in-depth investigation of environmental governance in Br...

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