The two-day MSP Conference – Addressing Land-Sea Interactions took place in St. Julian’s, Malta on 15 and 16 June 2017 and was a great success. National experts and MSP practitioners exchanged experiences and knowledge during three interactive sessions focusing on key LSI issues in specific countries / contexts, strengths and weaknesses of sub-national approaches to LSI and the LSI issues faced by participants. A total of 15 presentations were given during the panel sessions ‘Introduction to LSI’, ‘Sub-national approaches to LSI’, ‘National and sea-basin approaches to LSI’ and ‘Sectoral approaches to LSI and specific tools’. The photos taken during the course of the two days are now available here. You are also invited to take a look at the conference programme (including the speakers’ bio), the participants list and the conference briefing paper. The conference report can be downloaded here and includes the reports of the interactive sessions as well as summaries of the presentations.
Session 1 Presentations
Session 2 Presentations
Session 3 Presentations
Session 4 Presentations
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The Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission is organising a two-day conference to address the topic of Land Sea Interactions within the framework of Maritime Spatial Planning.
Land-sea interaction (LSI) is a complex phenomenon, involving both natural processes across the land-sea interface and the impact of human activities in this area. When carrying out maritime spatial planning (MSP), it is essential to consider the dynamics that occur between land and sea. That is true for sectors such as shipping or offshore wind energy, but also for the management of environmental quality. It is also important to ensure that spatial planning is conducted in an integrated manner across maritime and terrestrial areas through adequate institutional mechanisms. That is why the ‘MSP Directive’ (2014/89/EU) requires Member States to take LSI into account when preparing maritime spatial plans.
There are different ways of addressing LSI in MSP, involving different spatial scales of intervention. Some planners choose to build on the experience of integrated coastal management, others harmonise terrestrial and maritime spatial plans; and others simply plan at a scale that crosses the land-sea border. The conference will feature both experts and practitioners sharing their experience of addressing LSI in the framework of MSP. The audience will be invited to actively participate in the discussion.
Location
The event was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Julian's, Malta, from 14:00 on 15 June 2017, concluding at 13:00 on 16 June 2017. For questions concerning the conference, please send an email to info [at] maritime-spatial-planning.ec.europa.eu.
Maritime Forum
The Maritime Forum aims to improve communication amongst EU maritime policy stakeholders. It allows parties interested in the EU maritime policy to communicate on a common platform. They can publish events, documents and follow developments in their areas of interest. Information can be shared amongst a closed community or published openly. Anybody can register to the forum and comment on its content.
Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE)
The Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (also known in short as DG MARE) is the Commission department responsible for the implementation of the Common Fisheries policy and of the Integrated Maritime Policy. With a staff of about 400, led by Director-General João Aguiar Machado and based in Brussels, DG MARE is made up of 6 Directorates dealing with all aspects of both policies, including among others conservation, control, market measures, structural actions and international relations relating to fisheries. DG MARE reports to Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.