Breakout Session

24. Improving Ocean Governance Through Multi-Scale Ocean and Coastal Management

Coordinators/Moderators: Marc Magaud, Environment and Sustainable Development Attaché, French Embassy to the United States and Yves Henocque, Theme Leader Nature & Society, Prospective and Scientific Strategy Division, IFREMER

Speakers:
1. Wendy Watson-Wright, Executive Secretary, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission - UNESCO
2. Stephen B. Olsen, CRC, University of Rhode Island - The benefit of governance baselines: toward a typology of governance systems for policies adaptation
3. Richard F. Delaney, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies - Multi-scale integrated ocean planning off Massachusetts' coast: national plan downscaling
4.  Yves Henocque, IFREMER, France
5.  Ailauni Wihelm, Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument – Exploring the challenges and opportunities of integrated partnerships for effective protected area  governance: the case of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument
6.  Christophe Lefebvre, Marine Protected Areas Agency, France - MAIA: a European cooperation project - Developing a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Atlantic Arc

Summary: Maritime policies’ challenge is about envisioning the entire maritime space, encompassing both the land and water sides, emphasizing as well the need for proper management of fishery resources in ocean areas under national control and the importance of the connection between land and sea, i.e. covering the inland areas which affect the oceans mainly via rivers and non-point sources of pollution, coastal lands (wetlands, marshes, etc.) where human activity is concentrated and directly affects the adjacent waters, coastal waters (estuaries, lagoons, and shallow waters generally) where the effects of land-based activities are dominant, offshore waters mainly out to the edge of national jurisdiction (usually and as of today in the Mediterranean, 12 miles offshore), and high seas beyond the limit of national jurisdiction. Notwithstanding the continued need for integrated coastal management (ICM) on-shore, further emphasis will need to be placed on the implementation of ICM across the land-sea boundary and in a regional seas context.

Goals:
• Reviewing regional and national/state maritime policies current status in Europe and the United States;
• Investigating the status of trans-national networks in the seas of both regions;
• Within this international and regional context, looking at the current and future development and implementation of national/state policies both in Europe and the United States;
• Selecting some common rules in regard to developing ICM from the perspective of a nested governance approach.

Outcomes:
• Develop a common vision of a coherent multi-scale framework articulating concepts and approaches like Integrated Coastal Management (ICM), Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM), Large Marine Ecosystem (LME), Seascapes, and Marine Ecoregions, 
• Identify the main trends in science dimensions of complex social-ecological systems management, more particularly, (i) selection of indicators for the selection of trends in ecosystem quality, (ii) development of forecasting capabilities, and (iii) a typology of contexts for coastal and ocean governance.
• A set of proposed actions/recommendations to ensure progress on an ecosystem approach to management of coastal and ocean resources.

Resulting Recommendations:

DRAFT  RECOMMENDATIONS – Prepared by breakout groups and subject to review. These recommendations are the result of group processes and do not necessarily represent that positions of NCSE, which served as the enabler of the process that generated the recommendations.

The majority of the following recommendations can be implemented by nations, agencies, and leaders involved in ocean governance.

Task 1: Increase public understanding of ocean governance for the protection of environmental benefits. Adopt federal policies to strengthen environmental education with a focus on oceans.

Task 2: Inventory and assess existing global coastal and ocean management practices in order to inform future practice.

Task 3: The U.S. government should show leadership to:

• Ensure that the sustainable development of the oceans is a substantive portion of the Rio + 20 convention
• US Senate ratifies the Law of the Sea
  

Task 4: Ensure sustainable native practices and cultural knowledge are incorporated into CMSP/EBM practices and procedures.

Task 5: Strengthen ocean governance through the inclusion of all stakeholders and multiple perspectives at all scales.

Task 6: Explore creation of a legal mechanism for the designation, management, and enforcement of high seas MPA’s and MPA networks

Task 7: Establish an international code of good conduct for ocean users

Task 8: Expand capacity building to the benefit of developing countries that share common waters such as training practitioners in best science and management practices.

Task 9: Develop long term monitoring ocean observing system, including supporting systems for establishing baselines and trends.

Task 10: Establish monitoring for the enforcement and efficacy of ocean governance .

Task 11: Develop mechanisms that support cross-sector and regional networking.