A Guide to evaluating marine spatial plans

Abstract

Few people imagined in 2006, when UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission held the first international workshop on marine spatial planning (MSP) in Paris, that a growing international ocean management community would start thinking about planning marine waters in a systematic and integrated way. While a number of countries had already undertaken MSP, an important recommendation of the IOC workshop was to develop a guide to marine spatial planning. The resulting guide*, published by UNESCO in 2009, has become an internationally recognized standard, now published in seven languages including Russian, Chinese, and Spanish MSP, originally developed in high-income countries in Western Europe, North America, and Australia, is rapidly developing in mid- and lowincome countries such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, and island countries of the Caribbean and Coral Triangle. The IOC promotes development of management procedures and policies leading to the sustainability of marine environments, as well as the capacity building necessary for the maintenance of healthy ocean ecosystems. We hope this guide helps countries continue to foster the technical capacity building and institutional capacities to reduce biodiversity loss and manage their marine ecosystems sustainably.