International Perspective Summer 2006

Marine spatial planning

An international perspective Frank Maes from the Maritime Institute at Ghent University discusses GAUFRE – a spatial planning study for the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS)

T

here is much experience with spatial planning on land, but once land reaches the waterline this planning stops in many countries. For too long people have considered the sea as an endless space in which there is

plenty of room for sea and land activities. Past activities were mainly planned on an ad-hoc basis, looking for areas that did not interfere with already existing activities at sea and ignoring the ecological important land-sea interactions, the ecosystems and habitats and the needs of the coastal population. In the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS), with its coastline of 65 km and a total sea area of 3,600 km2, many activities are taking place and competition for space among users is fierce. It is becoming increasingly urgent to take a more integrated approach to planning and management of this part of the marine environment.

In 2003 a study on spatial planning

Analysis

for the BPNS called GAUFRE or

The

‘Towards a Spatial Structure Plan for

description of geological, biological

Sustainable Management of the Sea’ was funded by the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO). The process, procedure and methodology underlying the preparation of the marine spatial plan were set as one of the main objectives. Another objective was to produce several scenarios and proposals for a marine spatial plan, rather than one finished structure plan for the BPNS. The outcomes were intended to provide a starting point for

and ecological parameters linked to

discussion on forms of decisionmaking and public participation. Three main steps have been taken that can be broadly described as the analysis, the interaction and the integration phase before introducing visions and scenarios.

analysis

phase

provided

homogeneous zones that integrate a whole array of environmental factors. BPNS infrastructure was studied and described, as well as the environment and actual uses (historic, current and future). The relationships between infrastructure and uses were then analysed in terms of legislation, spatial delineation and intensity, and their interaction with the environment and other uses. Data was entered into a GIS system to create a database of layered marine environmental information. The resulting images of spatial delineation and, where possible, intensity, formed the basis for the subsequent phases.

Origins of marine spatial planning The trigger for marine spatial planning (MSP) at European level primarily came about as a result of the Natura 2000 networks and the Bergen Declaration of the 5th International Ministerial Conference on the Protection of the North Sea in 2002. The Natura 2000 networks have their roots in the EC Birds Directive (1979), providing a framework for the identification and classification of special protected areas for rare, vulnerable or regularly occurring migratory species, and in the EC Habitats Directive (1992) requiring member states to select, designate and protect sites that support certain natural

12

The edge Summer 2006

a

habitats or species of plants or animals. In order to prevent and resolve potential ecological problems, Ministers of the North Sea states agreed in the Bergen Declaration to strengthen co-operation in respect of spatial issues in the marine environment of the North Sea. The 2002 EU recommendation concerning the implementation of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) identifies marine spatial planning as an important tool to achieve ICZM. The EU Marine Strategy (2005) stresses the need for more spatial planning.

Yvonne Bax in Maes et al (2005), A Flood of Space pp14

Sven De Bevere in Maes et al (2005), A Flood of Space pp145

Interaction The interaction phase studied the environment, infrastructure and uses in relation to each other. Specific aspects included: 1 understanding how users of the sea affect an environment before space is allocated to that use in a planning context 2 interaction between users and the environment – the impact that infrastructure and users have on the environment’s capacity to sustain additional or future uses 3 interaction among users or the weighting of uses with each other, based on impacts, constraints and opportunities.

scenarios to support a vision for marine spatial structure planning: ● the sailing sea ● the relaxed sea ● the playful sea GIS layers are very suitable to reflect ● the natural sea and study interactions between the ● the mobile sea environment, infrastructure and uses ● the rich sea. in a marine spatial planning context. GIS can be used to support integrated Some scenarios lead to extreme results outcomes and to visualise conflicting if chosen separately. The sailing sea for zones and users. example focuses on exploitation of

Integration Integration is what really matters, in a sense that the land use-planning framework is applied to the marine area, taking into account the specifics and the dynamics of this environment. This allowed GAUFRE to create a vision on which spatial structure planning in the BPNS can be based. Key elements are security, sustainability and the precautionary principle. Sustainability has an economic, social and ecological component. Crossover scenarios have also been developed, resulting in six

marine resources in combination with immobile structures that have a social value. A sailing sea scenario can end up in an offshore deep sea port (promoting short sea shipping in a hub system) or an offshore airport. In contrast, a natural sea scenario envisages maintaining the North Sea as a natural reserve. It is clear that while this project stops with the development of spatial planning scenarios, this is only the first step in the development of an operative spatial structure plan as one

of the tools to achieve integrated coastal zone management. The next step will be making the project’s findings available to government, private and public sectors as part of a discussion document and to obtain feedback on support or opposition to any of the scenarios identified for spatial planning within the BPNS. Finally we hope GAUFRE will initiate a fruitful discussion on spatial planning for the entire North Sea region. The project results, a scientific report and a book A Flood of Space, can be downloaded at: http://server.host2mpact.be/ma ritieminstituut.be/main.cgi?s_i d=158 A few copies of the book and Cd are available for free from CoastNet. For a copy contact Pat Stitt at [email protected] Frank Maes is Research Director of the Maritime Institute at Ghent University The edge Summer 2006

13