Ocean governance 
Sustainable blue economy 
Monitoring and evaluation 
Data sharing 
Policy Background
Ecosystem-based approach based in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is one of the main pillars of maritime spatial planning, formulated in the EU MSP Directive. It was also included in the Regional MSP principles developed by Baltic Sea countries, pursuing the overall target to keep collective environmental pressure of various human activities within the limits of ecosystem bearing capacity and thus, contributing to the joint effort to achieve good environmental status of the Baltic Sea.
The European Green Deal set commitments and actions targeting climate change resilience, biodiversity conservation and restoration, clean energy, sustainable blue economy and other sectors largely serve as a guidance for the development of framework for ecosystem-based approach in MSP. Maritime Spatial Planning, applying ecosystem-based approach, is considered as a tool effectively contributes to the implementation of these actions.
Aims & Tasks
The main goal of the Learning strand (LS) is to enhance the ecosystem-based approach in MSP through the investigation of best practices, further development of international legal and policy framework and distribution of relevant knowledge for the North and Baltic Sea regions.
It is planned to include a study case within the LS to complement theoretical investigation contributing with practical experiences on approaches and tools to strengthen ecosystem-based MSP. The case study constitutes of two sister cases in the Baltic Sea and North Sea with three thematic sub-cases: MSP for good environmental status; MSP for Sustainable Blue Economy; MSP and spatial protection.
Ready Results
All final deliverables & policy briefs are available in Results
eMSP NBSR
CoP Leaders
Related News
Key eMSP NBSR outcomes in “Oysters with a pearl” podcast series
That’s a wrap! eMSP NBSR Final Conference Summary
Findings we made are now available – explore Results page
Concluding meeting of Community of Practice on Ecosystem-based approach – achievements and outlook
Related Events
Few more occasions to get to know eMSP NBSR project team and achievements
6th CoP workshop on “Ecosystem-based approach in MSP” 29.11.2023. Online
Summarising from Ecosystem-based Approach & Sustainable Blue Economy CoPs in Helsinki
