FIC 2023

Marine environments and the blue economy have become the bearers of a tremendous promise of growth while the possibilities of terrestrial areas seem to be exhausted. At the same time, marine environments are already subject to intense and ever-increasing pressures (e.g. Halpern et al., 2008 and 2015) such as maritime traffic, increasing demand and land use changes in coastal areas, seabed mining, dredging or mining, fisheries, tourism, development of renewable energy, etc. Consequently, the oceans are today at the center of varied and complex interests, at the crossroads of biodiversity conservation, climate change regulation, economic development, food security, etc. In this policy context, marine spatial planning (MSP) aims to reconcile human demands and conservation needs, and provides an attractive framework, through spatial zoning, for combining different uses of marine resources in the same area (Craig, 2012; Koehn et al., 2013; Ehler, 2014). MSP is often defined as "a practical way to create and establish a more rational use of marine space and interactions between its uses to balance development demands with the need to protect the environment, and to deliver social and economic outcomes in an open and planned manner" (Ehler & Douvere, 2009). MSP remains a very active area of research because, while offering a promising vision for ocean management, it is not yet clear whether and how it can account for many of the typical characteristics of marine socio-ecosystems. After early implementation in northern countries, MSP is now being extended to tropical environments (Abidjan Agreement, African Union, and others) as part of a broader process to organize the use of marine environments and design modern forms of governance in these regions. A growing number of governments are preparing the first policy documents aimed at reconciling resource exploitation and environmental protection (e.g., Cape Verde's marine strategy, Brazil's integrated coastal zone management plan). To accompany this process, and to ensure that the exploitation of marine resources contributes significantly to the political priorities of poverty and hunger reduction (Spalding et al., 2013; Sale et al., 2014), there is a pressing need for research on the possible declensions of MSP in the tropics.In this context, the final conference of the H2020-MSCA-RISE Project "Planning in a Liquid World, Tropical Issues" (PADDLE) will focus on different themes: Artisanal fisheries Decision support tools and geomatics Land/sea links Knowledge issues Critical approach to MSP Cultural, social, religious dimension New modes of public participation Noise at sea Climate change and MSP ? Restoration of coastal marine ecosystems and ecosystem design