20 June 2024, Varna, Bulgaria (Rosslyn Dimyat Hotel), 09:00 – 16:00 CET (hybrid event), by invitation only
The Black Sea Basin Workshop: BRIDGING MARITIME SPATIAL PLANNING WITH THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL AND BETTER INTEGRATE MARINE PROTECTED AREAS is jointly organized by the three European Union projects MSP-GREEN, MPA Europe and MSP4BIO, and hosted by CCMS:
The MSP-GREEN EU funded project (European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund) (2022-2024) contributes to align Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) to the ambition of the European Green Deal (EGD) by creating a framework for plans to become marine enablers of the EGD. The framework provides a cross-cutting approach by considering six key topics relevant for marine environment and sustainable transition of blue economy: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, sustainable seafood production, marine biodiversity protection, blue circular economy, zero pollution. Recommendations on how to strengthen the EGD ambition of EU MSP plans are one of the main outcomes of the project, drafted by project partners and additional experts (https://mspgreen.eu/).
The Black Sea Basin Workshop aims to present and discuss the MSP-GREEN results (recommendations how the MSP becomes enabler for the EGD and Blue Economy) to reflect on regional specificities and identify relevant topics, actions and priorities to be taken into consideration. The workshop will link-up with the Black Sea Basin strategies and other relevant regional sea initiatives, and also will involve non-EU countries in the EGD ambitions and link them to the objectives of the Sustainable Blue Economy.
To address the specific EGD topic of improved science-based MSP for biodiversity protection and better alignment of MPAs and MSP, the Black Sea Basin Workshop will also accommodate side sessions from two large European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme sister projects:
MPA Europe (Improved science based maritime spatial planning and identification of marine protected areas), 2023-2026, contributes to science-based designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) and science-based MSP, by mapping the optimal locations for MPAs in Europe’s seas. The project takes an inter-disciplinary approach by using holistic measures of biodiversity to encompass variation within and between species and of ecosystems (including many environmental variables), as well as carbon cycle dynamics and climate change scenarios (https://mpa-europe.eu/).
MSP4BIO (Improved Science-Based Maritime Spatial Planning to Safeguard and Restore Biodiversity in a coherent European MPA network), 2022-2024, aiming to support the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the Convention on Biological Diversity Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, as well as the EGD. The main objective of MSP4BIO is to develop an integrated and modular Ecological-Socio-Economic (ESE) management framework for the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems, within its more general objectives of promoting sustainable blue growth, and integrating maritime policies (https://msp4bio.eu/). In order to align MSP4BIO developments with local contexts and needs, Communities of Practice (CoPs) are set in each of the test sites. The Western Black Sea test site is a cross-border area, from Cape Tuzla in Romania to Cape Kaliakra in Bulgaria.
At the end a wrap-up will be presented on the cross-cutting findings from the three projects: what are the challenges, barriers and enablers for the role of MSP in enabling EGD and MPAs integration.
Stay tuned for further details!