Utilising MYTILUS for Active Learning to Compare Cumulative Impacts on the Marine Environment in Different Planning Scenarios

Spatial tools to calculate cumulative impact assessments on the environment (CIA) are important contributors to the implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to maritime spatial planning (MSP). Ecosystem dynamics are increasingly important to understand as the activities and pressures in marine areas increase. Results from the application of a new training set for the CIA tool MYTILUS, developed in capacity-building MSP projects for active learning environments, illustrate important points on how the CIA method can be used in systematic scenario design. The feedback from its use in an online PhD course outlines how the training set successfully enables researchers from different disciplines and different parts of the world to meet the CIA approach with such interest and understanding that it enables them to highlight the strengths as well as the shortcomings of the tool interface, tool capabilities, and CIA method, even when none of these researchers are CIA experts. These promising results are presented in this paper and advocate for the increasing use of MYTILUS and similar CIA tools in MSP stakeholder sessions where no preliminary CIA expertise can be expected. The key strengths and challenges of training CIA with MYTILUS are discussed to point out focus points for how to make its approaches increasingly fit for participatory and decision-making processes in MSP to utilise its promising abilities for supporting ecosystem-based management

Setting the scene for a multi-map toolset supporting maritime spatial planning by mapping relative cumulative impacts on ecosystem service supply

The aim of this paper is to provide the foundations for the development of a spatial decision-support toolset that combines cumulative impacts and ecosystem service supply assessments to support what-if scenario analysis in a maritime spatial planning context. Specifically, a conceptual framework for a toolset has been designed in order to introduce a new approach for place-based assessments of change in relative ecosystem service supply in multiple services at a time due to changes in cumulative impacts. Central to the toolset are two pre-existing approaches for relative ecosystem service supply and cumulative impact assessments and tools that facilitate them. The tools take advantage of available data from various sources, including geodata and expert knowledge, and have already been proven to support maritime spatial planning in a real-world context. To test the new approach and demonstrate the outputs, an ecosystem service supply assessment was done manually using the two currently separate tools. The results of the test case ecosystem service supply assessment for the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea are also presented in this paper and illustrate the assessment steps and data needs. Although presently the focus of the illustrative assessment is the Gulf of Riga, the toolset will be able to accommodate analysis of cumulative impacts and service supply of any location, leaving the scope of the assessment to be determined by the objectives of the assessment as well as data availability (i.e., geospatial data availability and extent of expert knowledge)

Considerations of Use-Use Interactions between Macroalgae Cultivation and Other Maritime Sectors:An eastern baltic msp case study

With the blue economic sectors growing, marine macroalgae cultivation plays an important role in securing food and energy supplies, as well as better water quality in sustainable ways, whether alone or as part of a cluster solution to mitigate the effects of fish farming. While macroalgae cultivation exists in Europe, it is not that widely distributed yet; with increasing marine activities at sea, Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) needs to ensure social recognition as well as social and spatial representation for such a new marine activity. This comparative case study analysis of MSPs of three eastern Baltic Sea countries explores the levels of support for the development of macroalgae cultivation in MSP and the degree of co-location options for this new and increasingly important sector. It presents new analytical ways of incorporating co-location considerations into the concept of social sustainability. The results of this study support the harmonisation of views on co-location, propose ways of using space to benefit multiple users as well as marine ecosystems, and highlight some of the key social challenges and enablers for this sector

The Future of Marine Spatial Planning—Perspectives from Early Career Researchers

In early 2021, the Erasmus+ knowledge flows partnership organised a session to discuss the future of marine spatial planning (MSP) at an international conference. We, a group of nine early career researchers, came together after the conference to continue the discussion: which topics should be considered in future MSP, what are the challenges, and which solutions are there to overcome these challenges? This communication shall raise awareness of the topics of climate change, ecological sustainability, blue justice, ecosystem services, and blue governance, which we identified as important for future MSP endeavours. We show the interconnectedness of the topics and argue that transdisciplinary education is required to contribute to a common understanding of MSP, which adopts an ecosystem-based approach, ensures equitable distribution of benefits, and secures ecologically sustainable development within an adaptive governance framework

Utilising MYTILUS for Active Learning to Compare Cumulative Impacts on the Marine Environment in Different Planning Scenarios

Spatial tools to calculate cumulative impact assessments on the environment (CIA) are important contributors to the implementation of an ecosystem-based approach to maritime spatial planning (MSP). Ecosystem dynamics are increasingly important to understand as the activities and pressures in marine areas increase. Results from the application of a new training set for the CIA tool MYTILUS, developed in capacity-building MSP projects for active learning environments, illustrate important points on how the CIA method can be used in systematic scenario design. The feedback from its use in an online PhD course outlines how the training set successfully enables researchers from different disciplines and different parts of the world to meet the CIA approach with such interest and understanding that it enables them to highlight the strengths as well as the shortcomings of the tool interface, tool capabilities, and CIA method, even when none of these researchers are CIA experts. These promising results are presented in this paper and advocate for the increasing use of MYTILUS and similar CIA tools in MSP stakeholder sessions where no preliminary CIA expertise can be expected. The key strengths and challenges of training CIA with MYTILUS are discussed to point out focus points for how to make its approaches increasingly fit for participatory and decision-making processes in MSP to utilise its promising abilities for supporting ecosystem-based management

User experiences of using a spatial analysis tool in collaborative GIS for maritime spatial planning

Maritime spatial planning (MSP) is a decision-making process for managing human activities at sea. Stakeholder participation is critical to MSP processes. Spatial decision support systems (SDSSs) can be effective tools for analyzing problems in MSP, for example, the impact of human activities on marine ecosystems. However, despite the fact that multiple SDSSs have been developed for MSP, they are rarely used in real-world MSP processes. We aim to provide insight into stakeholders' understanding and perception of the appropriateness and completeness of SDSSs in an MSP stakeholder meeting. We studied whether SDSSs can benefit from being integrated into CGIS to support alternative methods for problem exploration and solving in groups. The results show that most, but not all, stakeholders understood well or fairly well what the tool does and how to use it, and agreed that the tool was appropriate and had the necessary requirements for problem solving. The results also show that problem exploration and solving with an SDSS in groups can benefit from the tool being integrated into a CGIS. Further research is needed to find effective solutions to overcome stakeholders' challenges in using GIS, and to develop flexible solutions that enable alternative problem-solving methods

Exploring social justice in marine spatial planning:planner and stakeholder perspectives and experiences in the Baltic Sea Region

This article contributes to the increasing traction of social justice in marine spatial planning (MSP) by exploring perceptions and experiences of social justice from the viewpoint of planners and different social groups who were included and (self)excluded in MSP processes. The study builds on empirical material from Poland, Latvia, and Germany consisting of interviews, MSP legislation, and documents that were analysed through the lens of a multidimensional social justice framework centring on recognition, representation, distribution, and capabilities. Results indicate that MSP institutional arrangements constrain possibilities for marginalised and less consolidated actor groups (residents, coastal tourism, and small-scale fisheries) to enjoy the same degree of recognition that is given to groups representing strategic national interests (renewable energy and shipping). We also highlight the role of planners’ self-reflectivity in enhancing/depriving capabilities of vulnerable social groups whose wellbeing and multidimensional relationships with the sea call for institutional responses adaptive to specific planning contexts.</p