Toward sustainable marine development & blue economy

In the week 5 - 9 October 2020 The Atlantic International Research (AIR) Centre organized a webinar "All-Atlantic summit on innovation for sustainable marine development and the blue economy: Fostering Global Economic Recovery in a Post-pandemic World". The timing could not have been better, as the new series of lockdowns was just starting around the world.

Focus: Marine Spatial Planning – MSP (Ocean Planning)

Here I will focus on Day Two of the conference, and will specifically consider Parallel sessions on Marine Spatial Planning. The parallel session on Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) was moderated by Sally Yozell of the Stimson Center, USA, while the presenters were:

1. Michele Quesada Da Silva, IOC-UNESCO, focusing on ecosystem-based MSP
2. Juan Ronco, European Commission, explaining how MSP supports EU’s Green Deal Initiative
3. Marta Vergilio, Regional Fund for Science, Azores, Portugal, presenting the importance of cross-border cooperation in MSP
4. Tammy Warren, Government of Bermuda, Bermuda, discussing the stakeholder engagement and GIS technology in MSP
5. Mandy Lombard, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa, focusing on applied research that can be implemented for effective, sustainable outcomes.

The session considered Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) as a tool to ensure a clean and productive development path that sustains biodiversity and the blue economy.

Far-reaching effects

The moderator, Ms. Sally Yozell, and the presenters have shared insights regarding the importance of ocean in economic, environmental, and food security, considering that is the largest provider of protein in the world sustaining up to 3 billion people who depend on seafood on as their primary source of protein. In addition, it is also a medium of global transport, trade and communication, and this circumstance creates bidirectional risks – as human usage affects the health of the ocean, and the compromised ocean affects the wellbeing of the human communities and the global environment.

The moderator emphasized that the demand for marine-related goods and services, e.g. food and energy, is increasing, and it is on a trajectory to surpass the capacity of the marine ecosystem. This may ultimately degrade ocean ecosystems, as well as strongly affect human habitats and international relations.

Consequently, Marine Spatial Planning is an effort to sustainably and fairly consider and manage this common good and prevent disasters related to its use by adequately managing human activity in terms of spatial and temporal distribution, whilst achieving the ecological, economic and social objectives.

MSP as a useful tool for interoperability and risk management

Marine spatial planning is a process that gathers and enables diverse stakeholder industries, such as fisheries, shipping, tourism, aquaculture, oil & gas, renewable energy, citizen and other interest groups, to coordinate and negotiate the use, and maintain the health, of this common marine resource. The way oceans are managed, affects the health of the marine ecosystems which in turn affects conditions the health blue economy, and reflect on the achieving the UN SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Due to changes brought about by technology, nations and industries, mandates marine spatial planning to be an iterative process.

At the moment of the conference, the estimate was that at least 13 nations have approved marine management plans, and within 5 years it is estimated that at least 70 countries will have MSPs, which is particularly important as the decade of science ahead will face many challenges in terms of population growth, climate change, and potential disasters that result from the former two diverging processes.

The session provided a quality overview of the current approaches and uses of Marine Spatial Planning, from global to local levels. An important takeaway was that smart simplification, process approach, and multi-lateral collaboration, as embedded in the Marine Spatial Planning, are essential in ensuring communication, participation that feeds into sustainability, representability, and reconciliation of competing priorities in the use and management of the ocean and environment in the long-run.