On 12 June 2018, back-to-back with the Land-sea forum of the Var County, a meeting was organized for the NGOs, PAP/RAC and the French Coastal Agency (Conservatoire du littoral), with support of the Municipality of la Seyne-sur-Mer, regarding the Var case study of the SIMWESTMED project. The organisers and the French partners in the project (Cerema, the French agency for biodiversity), gathered with the French experts from WWF France, the National Park of Port-Cros, the Rhône-Méditerranée-Corse Water Agency, Plan Bleu, CPIE Côte Provencal, the PACA Region, and from the Ministry in charge of the environment. They reflected on a number of issues regarding MSP, particularly land-sea interactions and governance, such as: Which are the linkages between the good environmental status - GES (from the watershed to marine environment), the uses and users’ expectations? The Strategic Façade Document will, on one side, integrate these elements, but for which implementation at the local and articulation at the regional level (SDAGE, PAMM, PEM)? How to approach to multi-scale governance that takes into account local dynamics and national and regional instruments? Which are the linkages between marine areas with high ecological value (including MPAs and SPAMIs) and the local planning/ICZM policies and tools? These exchanges will help PAP/RAC formulate a series of recommendations for the European Commission, for a more harmonious implementation of MSP at different geographical and time scales.
