Stakeholder participation
Involving key stakeholders in the development of marine spatial planning (MSP) is essential for a number of reasons. Of these, the most important is because MSP aims to achieve multiple objectives (social, economic, and ecological) and should therefore reflect as many expectations, opportunities, or conflicts occurring in the MSP area as possible.
To involve stakeholders in the MSP process effectively (e.g., leading toward expected results) and efficiently (e.g., producing expected results at least-cost), there are typically three important questions to consider:
| (a) Who should be involved in the MSP process? |
| (b) When should stakeholders be involved in the MSP process? |
| (c) How should stakeholders be involved in the MSP process? |
Various countries have used different ways to involve stakeholders in their MSP initiatives. We are currently compiling a set of good practices to illustrate how countries have organized their stakeholders into MSP successfully. We expect to have it available here by the end of June 2009.
You can read about an initial set of good practices about stakeholder involvement in MSP in Step 4 (p. 43-48) 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