Marine Spatial Planning Workshop Report and Outcomes

This report details the outcomes of a two-day workshop held in Cape Town in March 2017, focused on the role of civil society in supporting the implementation of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) legislation in South Africa. The event, hosted by the Centre for Environmental Rights, the International Ocean Institute-Africa, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, and WWF-South Africa, aimed to identify resource needs, data requirements, and institutional structures to ensure a participatory, ecosystem-based approach to ocean governance.

• The workshop identified several critical gaps in the Draft MSP Bill and Draft Framework, including the absence of an ecosystem-based approach, a lack of provisions for existing rights, and insufficient public participation and stakeholder engagement. It was noted that the integrated ocean management approach envisioned by the 2014 White Paper on National Environmental Management of the Ocean (NEMO) is missing from the Draft MSP Bill.
• To improve civil society engagement in government MSP processes, the report recommends creating a formal institutional structure. This could take the form of an MSP stakeholder forum established alongside the National Working Group on MSP and the Marine Area Planning Group, or alternatively, a Community of Practice developed within the Department of Science and Technology.
• Participants emphasized that the national MSP process must be both participatory and ecosystem-based. They argued that the process should be developed with stakeholders rather than for them, and that environmental sustainability should be prioritized over pure economic gain to maintain the provision of ecosystem services.
• The report highlights a significant need to align academic research with the national MSP process. Specifically, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) needs to clarify the process for developing regional and national marine spatial plans so that civil society can align its efforts with specific milestones.
• Regarding decision-support tools (DeSTs), the workshop concluded that while many tools exist to evaluate trade-offs between ecological, social, and economic objectives, the appropriate tools can only be selected once the specific objectives of the marine area plans are clearly understood.
• The workshop identified a wide array of spatial data requirements for MSP, categorized into biological/ecological, human activities, oceanographic process, physical environment, and boundary data. While some data like administrative boundaries and bathymetry are available, others, such as the seasonality of migratory routes and local or indigenous knowledge, were noted as lacking or uncertain.

APA

Reed, J. R., Roux, S., Lombard, A. T., Findlay, K., Awad, A., Duncan, J., & Celliers, L. (2017). Marine Spatial Planning Workshop Report and Outcomes. Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/MSP-Workshop-Report-Outcomes-The-Role-of-Civil-Society-in-Supporting-MSP.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Reed, Jodie R., Saul Roux, Amanda T. Lombard, Ken Findlay, Adnan Awad, John Duncan, and Louis Celliers. Marine Spatial Planning Workshop Report and Outcomes. Centre for Environmental Rights, 2017. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/MSP-Workshop-Report-Outcomes-The-Role-of-Civil-Society-in-Supporting-MSP.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Reed |first1=Jodie R. |last2=Roux |first2=Saul |last3=Lombard |first3=Amanda T. |last4=Findlay |first4=Ken |last5=Awad |first5=Adnan |last6=Duncan |first6=John |last7=Celliers |first7=Louis |title=Marine Spatial Planning Workshop Report and Outcomes |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=2017 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/MSP-Workshop-Report-Outcomes-The-Role-of-Civil-Society-in-Supporting-MSP.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reed2017marine, author = {Reed, Jodie R. and Roux, Saul and Lombard, Amanda T. and Findlay, Ken and Awad, Adnan and Duncan, John and Celliers, Louis}, title = {{Marine Spatial Planning Workshop Report and Outcomes}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2017}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/MSP-Workshop-Report-Outcomes-The-Role-of-Civil-Society-in-Supporting-MSP.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }