Towards an elaborated theory of legal pluralism and aquatic resources

• Aquatic governance is characterized by rule incoherence.
• Legal pluralism helps understand rule incoherence.
• Other theories can enrich legal pluralism.
• This will improve its contribution to sustainable aquatic governance.

There is incoherence in governance rules for aquatic resources at multiple levels of governance. Legal pluralism tries to make sense of such incoherence, highlighting the tensions between concurrent rule systems and identifying their impacts. This review paper synthesizes the contributions to this special issue and examines the value of the legal pluralism approach for the governance of aquatic resources. It reveals a diversity of causes for legal pluralism and its social and ecological impacts. Drawing on theories of legal fragmentation, administrative law, and public–private partnerships, this paper enhances the scope of the legal pluralism approach for engaging with ecological and economic sustainability and contributing to governance.