MSP Research Network

Over 60 initiatives of marine spatial planning have been identified worldwide, and efforts to govern the oceans have expanded dramatically over the last decade.  Attention is now turning to review the lessons learnt from these experiences and review the effectiveness of planning processes and the nature of planning outcomes.  These planning efforts occur in very diverse contexts.  A comparative approach allows for consideration of context, but also aims to develop insights about common challenges and success factors.  The session will consider comparative approaches to the development of marine plans and planning systems across time, between nations, within regimes, or across jurisdictions.  Geographical thinking about the nature of scale, forms of environmental governance, or interactions between human institutions and the marine environment may be highly relevant to such analyses.

This session considers approaches from transboundary, national and regional marine planning.  The session is run in collaboration with the Marine Spatial Planning Research Network http://www.msprn.net/ and welcomes dialogue between other disciplines and coastal and marine geography.  The overall aim of the session is to contribute to both theory building and professional practice in marine planning.