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Published: 16 April 2024

Text: Margarita Vološina, VASAB Secretariat

The eMSP NBSR project, implemented from September 2021 to February 2024, provided a platform for marine spatial planners and other experts to collaboratively advance Maritime Spatial Planning practice. It addressed five urgent emerging Maritime Spatial Planning topics through a community of practice-based approach that enabled joint learning across professions and across the North Sea and Baltic Sea areas. Furthermore, cross-cutting themes of climate change and European Green Deal were considerably evaluated in all work done in the project. In a nutshell, topics, reasoning and working method of the project is summarised in short video.

Main results - concise on complex issues, with actionable recommendations and potential solutions are formulated in policy briefs:

• Addressing the fragmentation of Ocean Governance across borders
• Towards a sustainable blue economy
• An ecosystem-based approach delivers future-proof maritime spatial planning
• Strengthening Data sharing for informed decision-making in Maritime Spatial Planning.
• Monitoring and Evaluation in MSP – Always aim for better plans!
• Coherence in MSP – how to adapt homogenously in rapidly changing circumstances?
• Climate-smart MSP
• MSP data sharing systems in the North and Baltic Sea regions as means for stakeholders’ involvement
• Communities of Practice in marine spatial planning across sea basins - making it work

Additionally, several project reports have been produced to accompany and strengthen policy briefs by giving a much broader overview, explanations and examples. All publications are available here.

Moreover, discussions among various stakeholders about the recommendations on the projects’ explored themes took place at the final conference of the project in Gdansk, Poland, 31 January - 1 February, 2024. Now summary report, presentations and pictures from the event are available here.