Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1463329
10 COMMERCIAL 31.3.2022 Citizen engagement can shape our seas IN recent months, the Planning Au- thority as part of a European wide project on Maritime Spatial Planning conducted a public survey with the intention to boost the Authority's un- derstanding as to how and what the public thinks about maritime spatial issues. Alexia Attard from Malta's Planning Authority (PA) shares why public participation is key to planning and charting how we live on, next to and with the coast and the sea. Back in 2014 the European Par- liament sought the need to create a framework for maritime spatial plan- ning (MSP) with the aim of systemat- ically managing the use of our seas, ensuring that human activities take place efficiently, safely and sustaina- bly. "The EU's MSP Directive aims to reduce conflicts and create synergies between different maritime activities, encourage growth in the blue econ- omy, increase cooperation between EU countries and protect the envi- ronment and ecosystems from harm- ful human impacts." explains Alexia Attard, the Planning Officer special- ised in MSP and coastal management within the PA's Green and Blue Devel- opment Unit. In 2020, the Planning Authority to- gether with other counter parts from Italy, France, Greece, Slovenia and Spain embarked on a €2.5 million pro- ject funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The pri- mary aim of the MSP-MED project is to support the establishment of coher- ent and coordinated plans across the Mediterranean marine regions and between Member States, in line with the MSP Directive. For Malta, the outcome of this project is expected to assist the PA with the review of the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED) which is considered as the National Maritime Spatial Plan in Malta. Some months backs, through the MSPMED Project, the PA conduct- ed a nation-wide survey designed to ascertain how widespread public knowledge is on the way they directly or indirectly use the sea and how the public actually perceives the future potential of the sea. What did the survey show us? "From the findings of the survey a number of interesting results emerge. For instance, only five per cent of the respondents consider their employ- ment to be related to the sea. The large number (27%) of these respond- ents come from the Northern Har- bour Region. This is not surprising. When one compares this with other studies on the economic role of the sea at a national level, it confirms that the sea's current contribution to the How oen do we stop and think whether our daily chores have any bearing on the way we use our seas? Picking up your mobile phone to check a notification is only possible because of an underwater internet cable. Washing your hands is only made possible because of a coastal reverse osmosis plant which changes seawater into desalinated water. e demand of sea and coastal space is high – so what is the solution to ensure priority demands are met without damaging the fragile eco-systems of the coast and sea? Alexia Attard