Plan development
Once you have decided on a preferred future for your marine area, the final phase of planning should answer the question: How can we get there?
Typically, a marine spatial management plan should be developed to identify specific management measures that can produce the desired future through explicit decisions about the location and timing of human activities. Developing a marine spatial management plan is not an end in itself, but a beginning toward the implementation of desired goals and objectives.
Preparing and approving a spatial management plan will normally involve a number of tasks, including:
| (a) Identification of alternative spatial and temporal management measures; |
| (b) Specification of criteria for selecting marine spatial management measures; |
| (c) Development of a detailed zoning plan; |
| (d) Evaluation of the spatial management plan; |
| (e) Approval of the spatial management plan; |
The spatial management plan should guide the ecological, social, and economic development of the marine area, including its airspace, surface area, water column, and submerged lands.
Various countries have used different ways to develop and approve a spatial management plan. We are currently compiling a set of good practices to illustrate how countries done this successfully. We expect to have it available here by the end of June 2009.
You can read about an initial set of good practices on the preparation and approval of a marine spatial management plan in Step 7 (p. 71-82) of the guide "Marine spatial planning: A step-by-step approach toward ecosystem-based management". Download (pdf, 1.55 MB)
Last updated: 28 January 2010