The first webinar in the MSP4BIO final series aiming to promote project outcomes, took place on April 9, 2025, hosted by s.Pro and CCMS. This exclusive online event, conducted via Teams, attracted approximately 60 participants, including the Communities of Practice (CoPs) members established within the project.
The webinar delved into the latest advancements in science-driven Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and their implications for biodiversity conservation, as well as the enhancement of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) integration. It highlighted and demonstrated results from the operationalization and real-world applications of the MSP4BIO Ecological and Socio-Economic (ESE) Framework tools, which facilitated the development of targeted spatial and strategic solutions across the six MSP4BIO test sites, to accelerate biodiversity protection and restoration within the MSP context.
The webinar presentations successfully demonstrated the innovative test site solutions that were developed, emphasizing the insights gained and the benefits achieved. Additionally, they addressed the ongoing challenges and outlined the next steps required for the effective implementation of these solutions.
The webinar provided significant insights from the evidence-based results and various scale applications, which facilitate and enhance the operational implementation of the solutions:
– Stronger collaboration between MSP and MPAs actors is essential, as the current processes for MSP and MPAs remain distinct, however it is crucial for MSP plans to incorporate the newly proposed or expanded MPAs.
– Furthermore, the designation and prioritization of MPAs should be refined using the improved ecological criteria provided by the project. This should also encompass socio-economic dimensions, as emphasized in the presentations regarding trade-offs and the balance between conservation and the blue economy. Key elements include participatory mapping, cumulative assessments of human impacts on natural resources, climate change scenarios, and support for restoration initiatives.
– The participatory process is central to MSP4BIO, significantly enhancing stakeholder engagement through the established CoPs and ongoing iterative interactions that facilitated co-creation and validation of project applications and proposed tailored site solutions.
– Utilizing integrated ESE framework tools and assessments for data and science-driven decision-making, as demonstrated by the presentations, helps mitigate uncertainty in the MSP and MPAs processes and planning.
– The results from the solutions greatly contribute to setting up a new momentum for discussions on the strict protection, in particular in ta transboundary and cross-border scale.
Still, challenges and obstacles persist:
– There are notable data deficiencies, particularly concerning the scarcity of high-resolution spatial data, which hinders the effective application of tools for cumulative impact assessment, the prioritization of strictly protected areas, and the evaluation of climate change scenarios.
– Limited digital skills and mapping capabilities among the stakeholder might also impede the effective implementation of the SeaSketch tool mapping and application of the ESE framework tools.
– Misalignment of MSP and MPA processes and funding constraints.
These challenges underscore the needs for continuous support, policy coherence and collaboration across various sectors. All these have been set up in the forthcoming European Ocean Pact, aiming to bring coherence across all EU policy areas linked to oceans, while also supporting resilient and healthy oceans and coastal areas, promoting the blue economy.
Establishing avenues for new opportunities and outlining the next steps:
– Ensure widespread impact of the application results and main takeaways from the solutions by implementing a thorough knowledge transfer and campaign that empowers key stakeholders with the necessary tools, insights, and confidence to take action.
– It is crucial to evaluate the ambitions, transferability, and scalability of the results derived from the ESE framework applications and the specific solutions created by the MSP4BIO test sites beyond their local environments, across the EU and globally. The outputs generated may inspire and guide other coastal and marine regions to undertake similar initiatives aimed at improving the integration of MSP and MPAs by improving ecological criteria and incorporating socio-economic dimensions in the prioritization of MPA.
– Map out opportunities, key challenges, and enabling conditions needed for successful implementation of solutions.
If you want to dive deeper into the findings and test site solutions, read the D5.3 report here
Interested in watching the full webinar? Check the full recording here
Stay connected with MSP4BIO as we advance creative strategies to shape the future of science-based MSP and improved integration of MPAs!
