Víctor Cordero-Penín

Ecosystem service assessments (ESA) are widely used to support marine management, yet their application varies across regions due to differences in governance frameworks, data availability, and methodological approaches. This study systematically reviews ESA methods and tools applied in offshore areas of the Baltic Sea, South Atlantic Ocean, and Western Mediterranean Sea, evaluating their effectiveness in supporting sustainable marine management with a specific focus on offshore wind farms, marine protected areas, and fishing activities. The findings reveal geographical variations in ESA implementation, highlighting strengths and limitations in their ability to inform policy and decision-making. While methodological diversity enhances ESA’s capacity to capture complex socio-ecological interactions, inconsistencies in application reduce its effectiveness. Addressing these gaps requires refining methodological approaches, strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, and improving the link between ESA and marine governance. This research provides insights into the current state of ESA applications and offers recommendations for enhancing their role in ecosystem-based marine planning and policy integration.

The global economy is increasingly focusing on the Oceans to meet its needs, for which maritime spatial planning is being fostered to promote this is done sustainably. Thus, assessing the current state and future development trends of the maritime sectors is key to evaluating the performance of the planning process. This is the aim of this study, in which the main maritime sectors related to the blue economy present in the archipelagos of the European Macaronesia Sea Basin, i.e. the Azores and Madeira (Portugal), and the Canary Islands (Spain), were identified and studied. The following maritime sectors were analysed: fisheries, marine aquaculture, marine biotechnology, coastal and maritime tourism, maritime transport, ship repair and maintenance, extraction of aggregates, deep-sea mining, offshore oil and gas, renewable ocean energies, and desalination. As part of the PLASMAR project, partners undertook in 2017–19 a literature review gathering scientific papers, official statistics and reports, which were complemented by interviews with experts from the economic sectors and public administration departments. Results show that while some maritime sectors are well established, others are emerging sectors with varying long-term growth potential. Besides, development patterns vary across the archipelagos. This study represents the first effort in the Macaronesia Sea Basin to set the basis of the current and future development conditions of the blue economy in applicability to maritime spatial planning processes at a regional level. The future post-pandemic context will provide a unique opportunity to promote the blue economy sectors and activities through the support provided by the EU Green Deal and Recovery and Resilience Plans, as well as with the actions envisioned under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). The European Macaronesia example –given its wide maritime territory, commitment, and capacities in terms of expertise and networking– presents a great potential to act as a good practice to extrapolate the new approach for a sustainable blue economy to other similar geographical settings such as island regions/states.

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.

Legal-administrative borders in the marine environment rarely coincide with the boundaries of marine ecosystems and their ecological processes. Thus, cooperation in the processes of marine spatial planning (MSP) across borders is essential to apply an ecosystem-based approach. This research analyzes the usefulness of the work flow undertaken to promote cross-border cooperation in MSP for the European Macaronesia. Given the vast extension of the sea basin, it is especially important to define the cooperation scope. The planning of cross-border cooperation initiatives must consider the capacity of the different competent authorities to progress in the MSP process as well as the specific stage that each of the parties involved is. The importance of ensuring the engagement of all competent authorities across all work phases has been confirmed, but it is highlighted the relevance of including those authorities competent in foreign affairs. It is recommended that cross-border cooperation efforts go beyond the process strictly related to spatial planning of the maritime sectors and are used as tools to overcome structural limitations and enhance the natural advantages derived from the island’s condition of insularity and outermost regions. Thus, the proposed work process has proven to be useful as a roadmap to promote cross-border cooperation adapted to the legal-administrative singularities and to respond to the physical-natural and socio-economic realities of the case study.