Ecosystem-based Maritime Spatial Planning process
assessment tool
This tool is intended to assess if a spatial plan is
aligned with ecosystem-based management criteria.
For implemented spatial plans, standardised evaluation
provides insights into weaknesses of the plan for which specific actions should
be adopted during the review and adaptation.
For the pre-planning and plan preparation phases of
MSP, it provides guidance that ensures that the plan fulfils ecosystem-based
management criteria.
It could serve as good practice guidance for planning
processes in the early stages. It could also be used to define the plan
development strategy and make the process more cost-effective.
The EB-MSP assessment checklist can be responded to in
different ways or with different perspectives depending on the scope of the
assessment:
- If the aim is to assess if a certain national MSP is fulfilling EBA, then, it
should be filled according to the legislative documents (as well as considering
the whole MSP process before reaching the final document: e.g., assessing
phase).
- In case a planning site represents an area in which an MSP is not in place,
the user can assess the work already done towards EB-MSP development. That
includes assessment of cumulative impact, the implementation of Systematic
Conservation Planning approaches, or any previous research (e.g., research
projects), that is producing or has produced information and knowledge that would
be useful to inform the future development of a spatial plan.
- In case a planning site covers a transboundary region, the user can assess
the individual national MSPs, to assess commonalities or differences in terms
of EB-MSP criteria.
How to fill it
It can be filled up by one or many people with
expertise and experience on different topics or MSP implementation stages.
It can be filled more than once, in case significan change have ocurred in
the Planning process, and to monitor its evolution.
Specific adopted plan can be assessed, but also plans
in progress or at regional level.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-12 under grant agreement No 101059407 and by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee grant numbers 10038951 & 10050537.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or UK Research and Innovation. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Conceptualization
Ibon Galparsoro
Natalia Montero
Vanessa Stelzenmüller
Application coding and design
Gotzon Mandiola
Ibon Galparsoro
Natalia Montero
Olga Lukyanova
If you have any question about the EB-MSP Assessment Tool, please do not hesitate to contact us.