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During recent years, marine spatial planning (MSP) has been the focus of considerable interest throughout the world, particularly in heavily used marine areas. MSP offers countries an operational framework to maintain the value of their marine biodiversity while at the same time allowing sustainable use of the economic potential of their oceans. Essentially, MSP is an approach that can make key components of ecosystem-based management of marine areas a reality. Numerous attempts have been made to define both the scope and nature of MSP, but relatively few have discussed how to put it into practice. This guide aims at answering your questions about how to make MSP operational in such a way that can move your initiative toward successful results.

Marine spatial planning is a way of improving decision making and delivering an ecosystem-based approach to managing human activities in the marine environment. It is a planning process that enables integrated, forward looking, and consistent decision making on the human uses of the sea. Marine spatial planning is analogous to spatial or land use planning in terrestrial environments.