The Black Sea Basin Workshop “Bridging Maritime Spatial Planning with the European Green Deal and better Integrate Marine Protected Areas” was held this past June 20th, in Varna, Bulgaria as a hybrid event, jointly organised by the three European Union projects MSP-GREEN, MPA Europe and MSP4BIO, and hosted by CCMS. The workshop aimed to present and discuss at the Black Sea Basin level how the MSP could strengthen the integration and implementation of the EGD maritime objectives and in particular how better to align the MSP and biodiversity protection (MPAs) integration.
30 experts from MSP and MPAs governance in Bulgaria and Romania, regional key actors (Black Sea Commission and Organsiation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation), sectors, environmental organisations and research joined in person and online the workshop to discuss on these topics and to identify regional challenges, enablers and specifities. The Workshop linked-up with the Black Sea Basin strategies and other relevant regional sea initiatives, also involving the non-EU countries in the EGD ambitions, MSP process and improved MPA management with the support of knowledge-based MSP, and linked them to the objectives of the Sustainable Blue Economy.
The MSP4BIO Project main objectives and progress, the results from the main outcomes so far for the Western Black Sea test site (gaps analysis in MSP and MPAs management, CoP interactions, trade-offs analysis and identified policy levers and barriers at regional level) were presented and discussed with the workshop participants.
Biodiversity protection and restoration, transboundary collaboration, need of publicly available precise data, climate change adaptation, co-location and multi-use of activities and MPAs, re-conciliation of policy objectives and fair and inclusive stakeholder engagement were in particular highlighted as regional priorities for the Black Sea Basin. MSP should be science- and ecosystem-based, and flexible enough in order to accommodate in a sustainable way the important maritime socio-economic activities while protecting biodiversity and MPAs.
