MSPACE: Marine Spatial Planning Addressing Climate Effects

Led by PML and funded through the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) via the research programme Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR) https://www.smmr.org.uk/, this project involves a wide range of partners bringing unique skills and expertise together to help manage sustainably the UK’s marine environment in a changing climate.

The highly integrated, multidisciplinary MSPACE project was co-developed between PML, University of Essex, University of Bradford, Heriot-Watt University, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Marine Scotland, The Marine Biological Association, Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership, Marine Management Organisation, Natural Resources Wales, The Seaweed Alliance, National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association, Ørsted and Aquamaps.

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is a public process through which all activities that take place in the marine environment are documented, including those related to sectors such as shipping, ports, fisheries, aquaculture.

By understanding the activities, priorities can then be established for how conflicts between these sectors are managed, for example, in a specific area we might want to prioritise conservation goals over other goals, and the reverse in another. It is also a process by which we can establish how much we want to invest in initiatives such as protected areas, carbon sequestration and renewable energy infrastructure in an area. MSP is therefore a really important process in the delivery of the UK’s economic and environmental sustainability goals.

A key challenge to the delivery of these goals is climate change, which is redistributing marine and coastal biodiversity, including both the species we wish to protect and those we want to harvest. In the UK and internationally, MSP is focused on how sectors and their activities are distributed at present but with an ever changing environment these detailed management plans could become ineffective or even more damaging as climate change unfolds, leading to unsustainable uses of the marine environment and its resources.

MSPACE is addressing this challenge by supporting the UK nations in the development and implementation of “Climate-Smart MSP’.

Watch the online launch of ASPACE: Climate Smart Marine Spatial Planning Decision Support Tool

Webinars and videos

ASPACE: Climate Smart Marine Spatial Planning Decision Support Tool

This webinar formed part of the final MSPACE webinar series, presenting key outputs from the Marine Spatial Planning Addressing Climate Effects (MSPACE) project.

The session introduced ASPACE (Assisted Spatial Planning Addressing Climate Effects), a climate-smart decision-support tool designed to help users design, explore and compare spatial management scenarios that are climate-resilient, socially acceptable and economically viable.

Developed through a co-creation process with marine planners, conservation practitioners, fisheries representatives and other stakeholders, ASPACE supports informed and transparent decision-making in marine spatial planning. While initially developed with a focus on UK waters, the tool provides access to modelling data from across Europe and allows users anywhere in the world to upload and work with their own datasets. The tool is thus ideal to support stakeholder engagement activities or any other decision-support context that requires information about marine space.

This webinar was delivered as part of the Marine Spatial Planning Addressing Climate Effects (MSPACE) project, funded under the Sustainable Management of Marine Resources (SMMR) programme.

Economically viable climate-smart Marine Spatial Planning: metrics for adaptation to marine climate change

This webinar formed part of the final MSPACE webinar series, showcasing key outputs from the Marine Spatial Planning Addressing Climate Effects (MSPACE) project.

The session explored how climate-smart Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) can support economically viable adaptation to marine climate change, addressing the complex interactions between environmental impacts and marine economies. Drawing on work from across the MSPACE project, the webinar demonstrated how economic evidence can be translated into meaningful metrics that support decision-making in marine policy and planning.

MSPACE Final Webinar – Recommendations and Reflections

This webinar marked the final event of the MSPACE project, bringing together reflections and policy-relevant recommendations developed through the Marine Spatial Planning Addressing Climate Effects (MSPACE) project.

Over the course of the project, researchers, practitioners, stakeholders and case study partners worked collaboratively to explore how climate change impacts, economic viability and social acceptability can be integrated into climate-smart marine spatial planning. This final session drew together those strands, highlighting key outputs, lessons learned and their relevance for future marine policy and planning.

The session also provided an opportunity to acknowledge and thank NERC, ESRC and the Sustainable Management of Marine Resources (SMMR) programme, as well as the many partners and stakeholders whose expertise and engagement were central to the co-development of MSPACE and its outcomes.

This webinar closed the MSPACE project by reflecting on its collective achievements and the recommendations that can inform future marine spatial planning research, policy and practice.

MSPACE video was part of the COP30 UK Pavilion Showreel