European seas are facing incredible challenges due to the growth of economic sectors which rely on them, climate change and the degradation of ecosystems as a result of unsustainable human activities. Maritime Spatial Planning is a key public policy to ensure the sustainable use and conservation of our ocean. WWF advocates for ecosystem-based MSP to deliver a much needed change towards a sustainable relationship with our seas and marine resources. Conversely, a poor MSP process will only further aggravate the already dire situation faced by marine ecosystems, putting these resources and essential services at greater risk.
Member States must establish and adopt maritime spatial plans based on the 2014 MSP Directive and its requirements as soon as possible. It is crucial that these plans meet the Directive’s key requirements, such as being consistent and cross-border, and based on an ecosystem-based approach, promoting coexistence of activities and uses, contributing to the preservation, protection and improvement of the environment, and supporting the sustainable development of maritime sectors.
Alexandre Cornet, Ocean Policy Officer at the WWF European Policy Office said:
“Europe’s marine areas are hives of human activities. This makes spatial plans vital to ensure a sustainable balance between nature and human activities like fishing and transport, as well as those which are growing rapidly like offshore wind. Unless the EU embraces a sustainable, strategic and forward-looking vision for our relationship with the ocean, and commits to implementing it, we will irremediably doom the marine environment and lose the vital ecosystem services we rely on. The European Commission and Member States must collectively redress the situation and urgently deliver on their commitments to healthier seas.”
To help guide establish and adopt maritime spatial plans, WWF has published a paper reinforcing the basis of an ecosystem-based approach to MSP, offering a set of precise indicators for successful ecosystem-based MSP in all European waters.
Please find here the report: Ecosystem-based maritime spatial planning in Europe - and how to assess it!