Marine Spatial Planning – A step-by-step Approach towars ecosystem based management
During recent years, marine spatial planning (MSP) has been the focus of considerable interest throughout the world, particularly in heavily used marine areas. MSP offers countries an operational framework to maintain the value of their marine biodiversity while at the same time allowing sustainable use of the economic potential of their oceans. essentially, MSP is an approach that can make key components of ecosystem-based management of marine areas a reality. The guide provides a comprehensive overview of MSP. it focuses on describing a logical sequence of steps that are all required to achieve desired goals and objectives for marine areas. it does not focus on the technical details of any one of the steps, e.g., it is not intended to be a guide on the development of a marine geographic information system or implementation of a performance monitoring system. When available, references to existing technical guides, handbooks, and websites are referenced in the text.