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2012/SOM2/004
Agenda Item: 5
APEC Workshop on Marine Spatial Planning
Purpose: Information
Submitted by: China
Second Senior Officials’ Meeting
Kazan, Russia
2-3 June 2012
Concept Note
APEC Workshop on Marine Spatial Planning
September 2012
Xiamen, China
1. Coastal ecosystems are fragile and interconnected in the nature, which is sensitive to the climate
change. Oceans acidification, global warming and sea level rise influence directly on marine
biodiversity and ecosystem health. The Action Plan in the APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy in 2010
indicated that "Sustainable development of oceans and their crucial role in climate change and
food security" was priority of Sustainable Growth Strategy. Paracas Declaration and Bali Plan of
Action encourage to implement Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) approaches among APEC
economies, to ensure the sustainable management of the marine environment and its resources,
providing for sustainable economic benefits from the oceans, and enabling sustainable
development of coastal communities. Humans have lived along the coastline and made use of
marine resources for millennia. Paracas Declaration also appeals for a better understanding of
the nature and magnitude of these changes and their effects and insights on what policy
approaches will best allow our people and economies to adapt to these changes.
2. Currently, more than 1 billion people worldwide depend on fish as their primary protein source. The
ocean is the key component of the climate system, absorbing solar radiation and exchanging,
absorbing, and emitting oxygen and carbon dioxide. However, the intensity of use and technology
have reached the point where it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage the marine
environment for both biodiversity protection and sustainable multiple use. Usually, demand for
marine goods and services such as food and energy exceeds the capacity of marine areas to meet
all of the demands simultaneously. Marine resources are “common property resources” with open
or free access to users. Free access often, if not always, leads to excessive use of marine
resources, e.g., over fishing, and eventual exhaustion of the resources. To understand and
eliminate the conflicts between multiple use and biodiversity protection, it is important to examine a
range of management approaches and options to determine what the best fit is for each
participating APEC economies, both in concept and practical application. Marine spatial planning is
one element of ocean or sea use management; zoning plans and regulations are one of a set of
management measures for implementing marine spatial planning. Zoning plans can then guide the
granting or denial of individual permits for the use of marine space. It is a flexible and adaptable
approach that can incorporate the basic principles of climate change adaptation, food security,
ecosystem-based management, coastal zone management, and even watershed management.
3. The Workshop seeks to exchange and share a practical way to create a more rational organization
of the use of marine space and the interactions between its uses, to balance demands for
development with the need of protection, and to achieve social and economic objectives in an
open and planned way in the APEC economies. Marine spatial planning is the on-going and
iterative process of determining how, when and where human use activities will take place within a
comprehensive and coordinated planning scheme.
4. The Themes of the Workshop are:
(1) Purpose and Need for MSP
(2) Defining and Analyzing Current and Future conditions and the Impacts From
(3) Planning for sustainable fisheries
(4) Developing the framework of MSP
Climate Change
5. The Time and Venue of the workshop are as follows:
Time: September 2012
Duration:6 days
Venue: Xiamen, China
6. Field trips:
Two days field trips from Xiamen to other seaboard are also in plan. Further details are yet to be
advised.
7. Target participants:
The workshop's capacity is expected to be 30, one-two participants from each APEC economies,
participants either practitioners of coastal managers, practitioners of MPA, researchers or policy
makers from APEC economies. Financial assistance is available in accordance with the relevant
APEC provisions.
8. Contact details:
For detail of workshop please contact: Mr. Liu Zhenghua
[email protected]
For logistical arrangements please contact: Mr. Wei Bo
[email protected]