Click here to view this email in your browser if it is not displayed properly.

☃✿❀ The EU MSP Platform wishes you a merry christmas and a joyous 2018! ❀✿☃

MSP events in 2017SIMNORAT Stakeholder ConferenceSIMNORAT is organising a stakeholderconference on 19 December 2017 inGuéthary, France. The aim is tocommunicate the progress and outputs ofthe project partnership activities whileproviding an opportunity to exchangeknowledge and experiences from France,Spain and Portugal. Read more..

HELCOM-VASAB MSP Working GroupMeeting OutputsSeveral outputs are now available from theHELCOM-VASAB meeting that took place on7-8 November, including a backgrounddocument on 'green infrastructures & bluecorridor maps linking MSP and MPAs', thenew pan-BalticSCOPE project, BaltSPACE,as well as BalticSCOPE. Read more..

Union for the Mediterranean BlueEconomy Regional StakeholderConference NaplesOver 300 participants discussedopportunities and challenges for theMediterranean blue economy. An informalMinisterial Meeting of the westernMediterranean countries officially launchedthe Initiative for the sustainabledevelopment of the blue economy in thewestern Mediterranean. Read more..

MSP events in 2018Workshop on Synergies in MSPThe WG on Marine Planning and CoastalZone Management of ICES is organising aworkshop on Co-existence and Synergies inMSP, together with MUSES and MarineScotland. The registration deadline is 15February and the workshop will be inEdinburgh from 4-6 April 2018. Read more..

Cumulative Impact Tools WorkshopOn 18 January 2018, a roundtable will beorganised in Venice, Italy on the topic ofcumulative impact tools, bringing togetherexperts and tool developers, with specificfocus on the role of such tools in applyingan ecosystem-based approach in MSP.Read more..

News from MSP projects MARSPLAN-BS Final ConferenceThe MARSPLAN-BS project is organising itsfinal conference on 11 January 2018 inBucharest, Romania. The project aims toimprove and strengthen the cross-bordercooperation between Bulgaria and Romaniaand to support the implementation of the EUDirective for MSP in the Black Sea Basin. Theclosing conference has the aim to presentproject results and to share them with allBlack Sea country representatives as well asall interested EU Member States and otherinterested parties. The agenda for theconference is now available online, as well asa presentation explaining the project in moredepth. Read more..

New MSP Education Initiative The Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for MSPis aiming towards the development of aEuropean higher education landscape in theemerging field of marine or maritime spatialplanning. The partnership is a jointcollaboration between the Universities ofOldenburg, Liverpool, Nantes, and the LeibnizInstitute for Baltic Sea Research and theUniversity of Applied Science Breda. Thepartnership aims to develop various outputsincluding an online MSP Arena, multiplierevents, lecturing, an MSP roadshow and anMSP course module. The partnership haslaunched a brief survey, which can beaccessed here. Read more..

SIMCelt Final Conference OutputsPresentations are now available from theSIMCelt final conference. The results of theproject were shared and key issues intransboundary working on the MSP Directivewere discussed. The conference featuredinsights on data management, stakeholderengagement, cross-border working, theecosystem approach, cumulative impacts, aswell as evaluation and other topics. Thepresentations can be accessed here. Readmore..

MSP funding opportunitiesCopernicus Marine Service User Call The second Copernicus Marine Service UserUptake Open Call has been launched. Theaim of this new call involves promotingdemonstrations of coastal, operationalCopernicus Marine Environment MonitoringServices (CMEMS) and developing theelements needed for the implementation ofthese services. In the frame of the UserUptake program, MERCATOR OCEAN aims toenhance the usefulness and use of CMEMSinformation, to reinforce user loyalty and toattract new users. The service usesinformation from both satellite and in situobservations providing state-of-the-artanalyses and forecasts allowing forsystematic core reference information aboutthe state of Europe's marine environment.Read more..

ESPON Call on MSP and LSIThe ESPON 2020 Programme has launched aCall on MSP and land-sea interactions. Theservice contract resulting from this call fortenders concerns an action which shallcontribute to evidence-based, coherent andtransparent decision making in EU MemberStates considering land-sea interactions inthe development of national maritimespatial plans. It shall develop a methodologyto explore land-sea links, including thecoastal interface. The main outcome shouldbe socio-economic data and informationrelevant for MSP and land-sea interaction, aswell as a methodology to explore the land-sea interactions on a sea basin scale(including the coastal interface). Readmore..

MSP practicesNew Marxan + EnvironmentalAccounting PracticeThe new practice 'Environmental accountingas a tool for planning conservation measuresand sustainable uses of marine ecosystems'shows the importance of integratingenvironmental accounting with conservationplanning to support effective strategies forecological protection and sustainablemanagement of human activities. Thepractice presents the assessment of thebiophysical and non-market monetary valueof natural capital of the Egadi Islands MPA(South Italy). By using Marxan software, theresults of the environmental accounting wereintegrated with spatial data on main humanuses to identify key areas for natural capitalconservation. For this integration, twodifferent scenarios were considered, with andwithout accounting for human uses in the EI-MPA. The comparison between the scenarioshighlighted the importance of taking intoaccount human activities in MSP, allowing theidentification of key areas for natural capitalconservation. Read more..

BaltSPACE Project ToolThe BaltSPACE project has developed aSpatial Economic Benefit Analysis. The toolaims to contribute to a better understandingof socio-economic consequences of MSP andin providing MSP practitioners with a tool thathelps them to make sound decisions. Morespecifically, the tool is developed to identifyand map the spatial distribution of benefitsassociated with a given set of maritime uses.Read more..

Country informationIreland's MSP Roadmap Irish Ministers published a roadmap forIreland's first maritime spatial plan. The MSPfor Ireland will be developed over the next 3years and will provide a coherent frameworkin which specific sectoral policies andobjectives can be realised. The roadmap isintended to become a decision-making toolfor regulatory authorities and policy makers,supporting decisions on individual consentapplications with regard to planningdecisions. It is also intended to form a keyinput to the development of future sectoralpolicies, similar to role of the NationalPlanning Framework, Ireland2040, in termsof terrestrial sectoral policy development.Read more..

Welsh National Marine Plan open forconsultation The Welsh Government has published the

MSP-relevant publicationsNEW MSP LIBRARY The EU MSP Platform website now features anMSP Library page on which many keydocuments of relevance for MSP are included.Read more..

NEW MSP GLOSSARY

Draft Welsh National Marine Plan. The planwill be the first for the Welsh Seas, coveringthe inshore and offshore marine plan areasfor which the Welsh ministers haveauthority. The plan introduces a frameworkto support sustainable decision-making forthe seas, setting out the WelshGovernments' vision and strategicobjectives. Both general and sector specificpolicies are presented. Consultation will rununtil 29 March 2018. Stakeholders areencouraged to provide feedback via theconsultation document which can beaccessed here. Read more

Belgian MSP Revision ProcessIn the spring of 2017, the review process ofthe Belgian maritime spatial plan for theperiod 2002 - 2026 kicked off with aninformal consultation. The receivedreactions have now been transformed into afirst draft of the plan and the revisionprocess is currently entering into its formalphase. The Belgian State Secretary for thePrevention of Social Security Fraud, theProtection of Privacy and the North Seainvites all stakeholders to take part in theformal consultation process that will kick-offin the beginning of 2018. Read more..

An MSP Glossary page has also been added tothe website, featuring key MSP concepts andtheir going definitions, including thecorresponding references. Read more..

Guidelines for Marine AggregateExtraction A good practice guideline report has beenproduced by the British Marine AggregateProducers Association, the representativebody for the marine aggregate sector, andThe Crown Estate. The report entitled “GoodPractice Guidance: Extraction by Dredging ofAggregates from England’s Seabed” aims tosupport the industry with carrying out marineaggregate extraction in a sustainablemanner. Of particular interest to maritimespatial planners is a chapter on MineralPlanning Policy, as well as other PlanningProvisions. Read more..

Input Paper Knowledge of the SeasNetwork workshop on maritimecooperation Interact's Knowledge of the Sea Networkorganised a workshop on maritimecooperation from 21-22 November, bringingEU funding programmes supporting maritimecooperation across borders, together with awide range of maritime experts andstakeholders. An input paper to guide thediscussions was prepared as an unofficialcollection of 'food for thought' to form part ofInteract's discussions with Interreg'sManaging Authorities. Read more..

Do you have a question about MSP? Submit it to the Question & Answer service here. Make sure to follow the EU MSP Platform onTwitter as well, to stay up to date with the latest developments. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here and make

sure you receive the next one as well.

MSP events in 2018SIMNORAT stakeholder meeting

19 December 2017 in Guéthary, France

SEARICA 'Which next steps for OurOcean?'10 January in Brussels, Belgium

MARSPLAN Final Conference11 January in Bucharest, Romania

25th Coastal Futures Conference 17-18 January in London, UK

COLUMBUS Blue Society Knowledge Transfer Conference 23-24 January in Brussels, Belgium

Grid meets Renewables20 February in Brussels, Belgium

The Ocean in a +2°C world - An analytical perspective22 February in Stockholm, Sweden

20th International Conference on Marine Conservation15-16 March in London, UK

VLIZ Marine Science Day 21 March in Bredene, Belgium

Workshop on co-existence and synergies in MSP 4-6 April in Edinburgh, Scotland

European Maritime Day 31 May - 1 June in Burgas, Bulgaria

Unsubscribe from the newsletter