Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) is to the sea what spatial planning is to the land: an approach to the organisation of activities designed to limit conflicts between actors and activities, promote synergies and limit cumulative environmental impacts. However, it poses new challenges for decision-makers and managers, due to the specific characteristics of maritime space: a three-dimensional environment, where activities can follow one another or even overlap, and where only the states are rightful owners.
SML & maritime spatial planning
Despite the robustness of its theoretical construction, the operational implementation of MSP is sometimes complex and controversial: planning is about the future, and therefore often implies a break with the status quo. In this context, our integrated and prospective approach allows us to assist the actors in charge of planning to analyse current and future issues, to draw prospective scenarios, to define a vision of the future shared by the actors concerned, to elaborate strategies and to implement them spatially.
SML is fully involved in monitoring the implementation of the European directive (2014/89/EU) in the Atlantic and Mediterranean member states through the projects we are associated with. We are also actively involved in scientific research on the subject.
