The new EU funded MSP-GREEN project (Maritime Spatial Planning as enabler of the European Green Deal) was officially kick-offed on 07 December 2022 at a virtual event. The project has received funding by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), Grant Agreement: 101081314 — MSP-GREEN — EMFAF-2021-PIA-MSP and has the duration of 24 months (1 November 2022 – 31 October 2024).
The MSP-GREEN is coordinated by CORILA (Consortium for Coordination of Research Activities of the Venice Lagoon), Italy. Other partners are: University of Venice (IUAV), Italy; National Research Council (CNR), Italy; Spanish National Research Council (SCIC), Spain; CEREMA (Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Urban Planning), France; Regional Council of Southwest Finland (FI RCSW;) Center for Coastal and Marine Studies (CCMS), Bulgaria; Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia (MoEPRD); University of Western Brittany (UBO), France; IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea), France; VASAB (Vision and Strategies around the Baltic Sea); Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), Germany.
The MSP-GREEN project builds on the need to strengthen the European Green Deal (EGD) components of MSP plans, to operationalise EGD objectives within MSP, to reinforce the coherence between different directives and solve conflicting objectives. MSP-GREEN aims at creating a framework for MSP plans as “marine enablers” of the EGD. The framework will address analysis and action dimensions and will provide a cross-cutting approach to the main key topics included in the EGD relevant for the marine environment and the sustainable transition of the blue economy: climate change, circular blue economy, protection of marine biodiversity, marine renewable energies, healthy and sustainable food provision.
Recommendations on how to strengthen the EGD ambition of EU MSP plans and boost EGD implementation with actions addressed by MSP will be prepared based on the project results and by consulting experts and practitioners at EU level. Project results will be transferred and further discussed across the EU sea basins, to strengthen the regional dimension and rise the ambition for a Sustainable Blue Economy, considering environmental, socio-economic, geopolitical, regional specificities.
Stay tuned for more information and further progress of the MSP-GREEN coming soon!