Stakeholders’ collective drawing reveals significant differences in the vision of marine spatial planning of the western tropical Pacific

Abstract

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is an approach that has become essential in order to meet coastal states’ commitments to coordinated management between all stakeholders involved, whether the main objective is for economic, recreational or conservation purposes. The lessons learned from MSP over the last decade revealed the importance of applying multidisciplinary approaches to expand and deepen the involvement of stakeholders from economic and political decision-making spheres, as well as considering social and cultural dimensions.As part of the MSP process in the western tropical Pacific region, a participatory and prospective method was undertaken (the territory game). The method is based on the collective construction of spatial representations by a pool of relevant stakeholders. Both, the spatial outputs, as well as the discussions leading to them, were analysed to evaluate the stakeholders’ current and future visions of the territory.During the methodological pathway, visions developed ranging from a local scale to areas that covered all oceanic compartments, as well as some even considering the entire region. Local and intangible knowledge and opinions were taken into consideration, and helped to create a comprehensive understanding of the context. In the course of the project, participants proposed socio-ecological management solutions with innovative spatial scales. Furthering this effort, the proposals were shaped to the action capacity of the states concerned; in addition, certain Pacific countries were identified as potential leaders for steering some of the proposed actions.This approach can help to promote local actors’ involvement in MSP by a collective analysis as well as to strengthen integration of cultural and social aspects. The whole process is based on biophysical and geopolitical scientific information to improve the credibility of the results. The suggested actions could thus be implemented by each state and the Western Pacific region. Though the integration of the results into high-level decision making was not tested yet, the presented approach would allow an increased acceptance of suggested directions and actions by taking into account the different spatial visions of the relevant actors.