Good planning in busy urban areas is very important to make a city enjoyable and functional for its residents.  Some cities that were originally poorly planned, like Toronto, are revitalizing their centers by concentrating restaurants, shops and other businesses within walking distance of homes and offices, while improving the aesthetics of downtown areas.  Places in California with poor planning and sprawl—which require residents to drive everywhere—have been particularly hard hit by the mortgage crisis, and have come under fire for their high levels of green house gas emissions.

Lessons about the importance of careful comprehensive planning on land are now finding important application in the oceans.  New technology presents many new development possibilities in coastal and ocean space.  Maintaining healthy marine ecosystems will become increasingly difficult as conventional and alternative energy production facilities—including wind turbines, wave and tidal facilities—compete with fishing, shipping, and recreational activities for ocean space.  In some areas, like the North Sea, the sea-scape is starting to look a lot like a city-scape—this is a view of the future for many coastal areas.  

Last week at NRDC’s New York office, I participated in a fantastic seminar featuring presentations from two experts working with UNESCO, Fanny Douvere and Charles Ehler, who are at the forefront of efforts to further develop the concept of “marine spatial management”, or “marine spatial planning”, to accommodate the growing number of uses of marine areas. 

Marine spatial planning has many benefits:

• It’s a comprehensive approach to reducing conflicts—both between different industries, and  various governmental entities that claim jurisdiction over ocean space.
• It is a practical way to incorporate an ecosystem-based approach into planning to ensure that management of the marine ecosystem is an integral part of planning, rather than an afterthought.
• It promotes alternative energy development by allowing for more certainty among developers already risking a lot with the costly development of new technology.

Spatial planning can help to avoid “ocean sprawl” by layering compatible uses so that some areas contain a high concentration of industrial activities, while other more sensitive or critical biological areas, such as marine protected areas, are left for recreational and natural uses.

Marine spatial planning has been applied in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in Australia, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary with considerable success.  Look out for the use of this promising tool in the U.S. and beyond.