SIMWESTMED - Most appropriate geographical scale for MSP at national scale (R6)
Component: 1.3.1 Conceptual methodology Sub-component: 1.3.1.5 Most appropriate geographical scale for MSP at national scale The scale issue is particularly of concern for the MSP directive implementation process and its transboundary issues: What is the most appropriate scale for their MSP plans? Do they have to define different plans based on different geographical scales? If so, what would be their articulation? If not, for instance, is it enough to carry out the plan at national or marine basin scale with some focus areas? Moreover, what would be the plan boundaries once the scale is defined? If this step is not well conducted in a MSP process, it could lead to the failure of the plan, as a consequence of a mismatch between ecological scale and social/management scale (Cumming et al., 2006) and respective boundaries. For instance, the management boundaries often match administrative boundaries (for political purposes), which do not generally correspond to the boundaries of a single ecosystem. Indeed, an administrative region often encompasses multiple ecosystems, of different sizes and sometimes only some parts of an ecosystem. Besides, analysing phenomena whether environmental or socio-economic only within the administrative boundaries could lead to misunderstanding of these phenomena in as much as the latter could be broader. The literature review conducted during the SIMWESTMED project highlighted some general principles to bear in mind to ensure that the most appropriate geographical scale is used to maximise the efficiency of a plan. ; This report/document was produced as part of the SIMWESTMED Project (Grant Agreement N0. EASME/EMFF/2015/1.2.1.3/02/SI2.742101). PROJECT: Supporting Implementation of Maritime Spatial Planning in the Western Mediterranean region (SIMWESTMED) Competition for maritime space – for renewable energy equipment, aquaculture and other uses – has highlighted the need to manage our waters more coherently. Maritime spatial planning (MSP) works across borders and sectors to ensure ...