Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) technical working group

There is a need for improved regional cooperation to establish a consistent and appropriate definition of MSP that will best serve the needs of the countries within the WIO. This is aligned with two decisions of the 8th Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Nairobi Convention that was held in Seychelles during June 2015:

i. Decision CP8/10: Blue and Ocean Economy (4) “To urge Contracting Parties to cooperate in improving the governance of areas beyond national jurisdiction, building on existing regional institutions including the Nairobi Convention and developing area based management tools such as marine spatial planning to promote the blue economy pathways in the Western Indian Ocean Region.”

ii. Decision CP8/13: Enhancing Cooperation, Collaboration and Support with Partners (3) “To invite all Contracting Parties and request the Secretariat to collaborate with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association and other partners on capacity building, implementation and sharing of experiences on integrated marine spatial planning in support of blue economy.”

WIOSAP, SAPPHIRE and NoCAMO projects will work in synergy and collaboration to deliver below listed initiatives to provide support( policy, technical, training and financial) to the WIO region countries to employ MSP as one of area based planning tools to advance the blue economy, sustainable resource management and improved ocean governance

• In partnership with other existing initiatives and mandates, co-develop and co-implement a regional methodology for Marine Spatial Planning: the development of regional MSP strategy and establishment of regional MSP taskforce process is initiated based on the recommendation from Dar se Salaam workshop
• Assist countries in formal adoption of Marine Spatial Planning within national legislation with specific consideration given to identifying pilot or pilots to demonstrate ‘best practices’ in Marine Spatial Planning exercises
• Support to demonstrate ‘best practices’ for involve local communities in participatory Marine Spatial Planning through appropriate national mechanisms
• Support the development  and adoption of  a community-based ‘Blue Economy’ management plan based on MSP
• Capture lessons and best practices for replication throughout the participating countries
• Among others