D4.1 contains the Methodology for the co-development of MSP-GREEN recommendations and a set of key Annex, including the project Recommendations

The present recommendations have been prepared as part of the MSP-GREEN project: “Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) as Enabler of the European Green Deal (EGD)”. They provide suggestions on how to strengthen the content of Maritime Spatial plans (MS plans) and their implementation, monitoring and revision in the direction of EGD objectives. The recommendations were initially drafted by MSP-GREEN project partners based on the assessment of their country’s plans and capitalising on the outcome of other projects, such as eMSP NBSR (Emerging ecosystem-based Maritime Spatial Planning topics in North and Baltic Sea Regions). This initial draft was discussed within three focus groups, engaging about 15 experts with different backgrounds and from different organisations: the European Commission (EC), organisations of maritime sectors operating at the European Union (EU) level, EU level Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) for nature protection, universities and research institutions. The revised draft was discussed during a workshop organised as a side event of the European Maritime Day 2024 (Svendborg, DK) that saw the participation of about 20 experts, again with mixed composition. Feedback from the workshop was used to finalise the recommendations that are presented in this document.