This page presents an overview of the work done by the Mediterranean Maritime Spatial Planning Community of Practice (MED-MSP-CoP).
We invite Med MSP experts to join the Community of Practice by contacting us at info [at] maritime-spatial-planning.ec.europa.eu (info[at]maritime-spatial-planning[dot]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu). For more information please refer to the call for experts.
Context
In the Mediterranean, there are many policy drivers for the implementation of Maritime/Marine Spatial Planning at regional, sub-regional and national levels. These include the MSP Directive implementation for the European Union Member States, the recent EU Sustainable Blue Economy Communication, the Ministerial declaration on Blue Economy of the Union for the Mediterranean and the Conceptual Framework for MSP developed by UNEP/MAP promoting a common approach to MSP as a key process for planning and managing the marine space in line with the provisions of the ICZM Protocol.
Scope of the MED MSP CoP
Given the existing policy framework and the broader political will to commonly work on MSP, there is a shared interest to set an MSP Community of Practice in the Med (MED-MSP-CoP).
On 26 January 2023 CINEA together with DG MARE launched the Community of Practice on Maritime Spatial Planning for the Mediterranean, with the support of the WestMed Initiative. This is a voluntary expert group from EU and non-EU countries working on MSP in the Mediterranean. There is a growing need for a continuous and structured dialogue within the MSP Community at the sea basin and sub-sea basin level.
The main objective of the MED-MSP-CoP is to establish a permanent communication and dialogue across borders between experts on MSP (i.e. planners, technical experts, researchers), and to exchange knowledge and relevant experiences in the region, so as to reach a shared perspective on topics of common interest on MSP and enhance the cooperation between the north and the south of the Mediterranean.
