WEBINAR BY OCTO
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Distinguishing Marine Spatial Planning and Marine Protected Area planning to advance conservation. Presented by Catarina Frazão Santos of the University of Lisbon and Tundi Agardy of Sound Seas. Hosted by OCTO—Open Communications for the Ocean, by Sarah Carr. This webinar originally aired on Thursday, October 30, 2025. |
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OCTO Webinar: Distinguishing Marine Spatial Planning and Marine Protected Area planning to advance conservation
By Sarah Carr, presented by Catarina Frazão Santos and Tundi Agardy.
Marine spatial planning (MSP) and marine protected area (MPA) planning are two distinct area-based processes used worldwide to support sustainable ocean use and conservation. While MSP and MPA planning share similarities, they target different goals and objectives, and use different methodologies, tools, and practitioner skillsets. In this seminar we present our view of the differences and why they matter, emphasizing that using both can maximally advance conservation, especially in the face of climate change. We discuss how the conflation of MSP with MPA planning can create or fortify siloes, impeding holistic and effective management and lessening chances for broad support for conservation and sustainable use. As the world moves to incorporate climate change considerations into planning, the lack of clarity around these distinct approaches can lead to further confusion and limits our pathways to sustainable solutions. To avoid this, we encourage dialogue about scope and objectives of the tools used in planning and provide some lessons for practitioners to adopt ‘climate-smart’ approaches in MSP and MPA planning practices, optimizing synergies between the two wherever possible. We speak to several different ways to promote such synergies and build on progress being made in each arena, including how in certain circumstances OECM planning could bridge MPA planning and MSP and how climate–smart MSP in Antarctica could catalyze both conservation and sustainable use.
This webinar originally aired on Thursday, October 30, 2025.
It was recorded and is available at the links below:
https://octogroup.org/distinguishing-marine-spatial-planning-and-marine-protected-area-planning-to-advance-conservation/
By Sarah Carr, presented by Catarina Frazão Santos and Tundi Agardy.
Marine spatial planning (MSP) and marine protected area (MPA) planning are two distinct area-based processes used worldwide to support sustainable ocean use and conservation. While MSP and MPA planning share similarities, they target different goals and objectives, and use different methodologies, tools, and practitioner skillsets. In this seminar we present our view of the differences and why they matter, emphasizing that using both can maximally advance conservation, especially in the face of climate change. We discuss how the conflation of MSP with MPA planning can create or fortify siloes, impeding holistic and effective management and lessening chances for broad support for conservation and sustainable use. As the world moves to incorporate climate change considerations into planning, the lack of clarity around these distinct approaches can lead to further confusion and limits our pathways to sustainable solutions. To avoid this, we encourage dialogue about scope and objectives of the tools used in planning and provide some lessons for practitioners to adopt ‘climate-smart’ approaches in MSP and MPA planning practices, optimizing synergies between the two wherever possible. We speak to several different ways to promote such synergies and build on progress being made in each arena, including how in certain circumstances OECM planning could bridge MPA planning and MSP and how climate–smart MSP in Antarctica could catalyze both conservation and sustainable use.
This webinar originally aired on Thursday, October 30, 2025.
It was recorded and is available at the links below:
https://octogroup.org/distinguishing-marine-spatial-planning-and-marine-protected-area-planning-to-advance-conservation/
