UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) and the European Commission have launched MSPglobal, a new joint initiative to promote cross-border maritime spatial planning.
Planning human activities at sea so they happen safely and sustainably is a pre-requisite to good ocean governance. This requires a high level of coordination, not just within a same country but also across borders. This is why since 2017 IOC-UNESCO and the European Commission (DG MARE) have been working hand in hand to develop transboundary maritime spatial planning (MSP).
This month, as a follow-up action to their Joint Roadmap to accelerate Maritime/Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) processes worldwide, the two have launched #MSPglobal.
MSPglobal is a new three-year long initiative that will call on regional experts to:
- Develop guidance on international cross-border planning;
- Perform two pilot regional projects in the West Mediterranean (Algeria, France, Italy, Malta, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia, other WestMED countries could also be invited to participate in training activities) and the Southeast Pacific with a specific cross-border exercise at the historical Bay of Guayaquil (Ecuador/Peru) and training activities benefiting Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru;
- Communicate and disseminate all results.
By 2030 the results of MSPglobal, combined with the other 9 actions of the Joint Roadmap, are expected to triple the area of territorial waters that benefit from an effectively implemented MSP system.
MSPglobal is co-financed by the European Commission through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.
The launching event of the project will be in February 2019, additional information will be shared with all beneficiaries in December 2018.
For more information, please contact MSPglobal@unesco.org