At the invitation of the EU Focal Point the PAP/RAC Director attended the Member State Expert Group on Maritime Spatial Planning - Integrated Coastal Management held in Brussels on 2nd of July 2013. The meeting was an opportunity to present recent projects on MSP and ICZM in the European coastal areas including the Mediterranean Sea Region. It was focused on recent developments in the member states on MSP and ICM, such as: marine planning of offshore renewables in Scotland; Belgian MSP plan; ICZM Assistant of the SUSCOD project. Moreover, three interesting topics were discussed: barriers in implementing MSP and ICM; climate change adaptation activities in the context of MSP and ICM; and topics needing guidance.
The member states were quite interested to learn about the Mediterranean initiatives, in particular with regard to the implementation of the ICZM Protocol and the efforts to secure integration of planning and management initiatives on land and sea according to the definition of the coastal zone given in the Protocol and in respect of the ecosystem approach as one of the fundamental ICZM principles.
