The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) and the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission (DG MARE) adopted today a “Joint Roadmap to accelerate Maritime/Marine Spatial Planning processes worldwide”. The roadmap identifies common challenges and proposals for actions to be implemented in the coming years, reaching out for collaboration with other UN bodies […]

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A valuable update including: Statements of public participation published Call for issues with supporting evidence: survey and workshop Sustainability appraisal scoping report published South marine plan – public consultation Decision maker workshops Improving systems And more What a marine plan will do’ page: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/marine-planning-in-england

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Welcome to the home page of the UNESCO initiative on marine spatial planning. The purpose of this initiative is to help countries implement ecosystem-based management by finding space for biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic development in marine areas. One way to do this is through marine spatial planning. Our work focusses on moving marine spatial planning […]

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Peter Jones: New critical analysis paper: Marine Spatial Planning in Reality – concludes “that the realities of how marine spatial planning (MSP’ing) is working contrast with widely recognised concepts and ideals as to how MSP’ing should work, as integrated-use MSP’ing based on political expedience and blue growth priorities is diverging from and potentially competing with […]

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Three perspectives of marine spatial planning, the outcomes of an WOC-SAMS webinar with lots of links on MSP in the North Sea, the latest MMO planning update and Alec Taylor from WWF-UK on the need for more ambition in way UK is implementing marine plans. 1.  WOC ‘ North Sea Industry Leaders Participate in Webinar […]

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Conference outcomes – European Commission: ‘Participants discussed the challenges and opportunities that arise when applying an environmental perspective to MSP. Planning and managing human activities in a way that does not exceed the capacity of marine ecosystems to deliver economic and social benefits.’ Commissioner Vella’s thinking on show. It also discussed the role of the […]

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