Co-developing recommendations for biodiversity inclusive Marine Spatial Planning

Achieving global commitments to protect and restore nature, such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), is imperative and requires action at multiple scales. Countries have been required to align these goals within their respective policies to safeguard ecosystems, reduce pollution and ensure sustainable use of resources. For the marine realm, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) offers a powerful tool to support biodiversity, combining science, stakeholders’ inputs and an ecosystem-based approach. An MSP process that is ‘biodiversity inclusive’ presents an opportunity to align human activities in a consistent manner to reduce pressures and preserve biodiversity.

Recognizing the opportunity to reinforce biodiversity as key to ocean health and aiming to support countries developing and implementing participatory, integrated planning to avoid biodiversity loss (GBF target 1), UNESCO-IOC, the European Commission and UNEP partnered to co-develop recommendations on how to further include biodiversity considerations into MSP processes and plans. The recommendations were co-developed with practitioners and researchers from different parts of the word, building on their experience and expertise. These experts were brought together during online workshops to discuss the concept of biodiversity inclusive MSP, challenges and recommendations on how to advance it. Contributions were compiled, harmonized, revised and completed through an iterative process to develop actionable recommendations organized around the stages of the planning cycle to facilitate uptake. This process facilitates knowledge-transfer from different research projects, making it accessible to practitioners and policy makers. The publication develops the concept of biodiversity inclusive within the wider framework of the ecosystem-based approach that underpins MSP.