Maritime Spatial Planning as enabler of the European Green Deal

Maritime spatial planning (MSP) is a tool to ensure that human activities in the seas and oceans take place in an efficient, safe, coherent and sustainable way. Following the provisions of the EU MSP Directive adopted in 2014, EU Member States have either submitted their MSP plans or are about to finalise them. However, these plans may need adjustments to align with the new environmental and socio-economic targets set by the EU Green Deal in 2019 and  the Communication on a new approach for a sustainable blue economy in 2021.

The MSP-GREEN project, funded under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), aims to align EU Member States’ Maritime Spatial Plans with the European Green Deal’s ambitions.

Coordinated by Corila (Italy), the project encompasses five major sea basins: the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Each sea basin is considered according to its specific environmental, socio-economic and cultural nuances, and the different dimensions are promoted also through an Ocean literacy-driven communication strategy.

The main activities of MSP-GREEN project are:

• To analyse national maritime spatial plans and assess how the European Green Deal’s principles are taken into account;
• to promote exchange on best practices and identify gaps and challenges to help the integration of the European Green Deal’s elements in the plans;
• to identify, design and implement new actions that will lead to improved MSP plans meeting the European Green Deal’s objectives;
• to provide recommendations to EU MSP Authorities and engage regional coastal communities in a dialogue, even beyond EU borders.     

The framework that the project is developing adopts a cross-cutting approach, focusing on European Green Deal’s priorities such as climate change, circular blue economy, marine biodiversity, marine renewable energies, and sustainable food. The benefits of integrating healthy marine ecosystems into planning decisions as well as the imperative for the maritime sector to achieve EGD goals are set clear.

The MSP-GREEN project emerges in this context as a significant step towards ensuring that MSP plans can effectively embrace and enable the ambitious targets of the EU Green Deal.

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