Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1463655
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 APRIL 2022 12 COMMERCIAL Citizen engagement can shape our seas IN recent months, the Planning Authority as part of a Europe- an wide project on Maritime Spatial Planning conducted a public survey with the inten- tion to boost the Authority's understanding 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 Parliament sought the need to create a framework for mar- itime spatial planning (MSP) with the aim of systematically managing the use of our seas, ensuring that human activities take place efficiently, safely and sustainably. "The EU's MSP Directive aims to reduce conflicts and create synergies between different maritime activities, encourage growth in the blue economy, increase cooperation between EU countries and protect the environment and ecosystems from harmful human impacts." explains Alexia Attard, the Planning Officer specialised in MSP and coastal management within the PA's Green and Blue Development Unit. In 2020, the Planning Author- ity together with other coun- ter parts from Italy, France, Greece, Slovenia and Spain embarked on a €2.5 million project funded by the Euro- pean Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The primary aim of the MSP-MED project is to support the establishment of coherent and coordinated plans across the Mediterrane- an marine regions and between Member States, in line with the MSP Directive. For Malta, the outcome of this project is ex- pected to assist the PA with the review of the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Develop- ment (SPED) which is consid- ered as the National Maritime Spatial Plan in Malta. Some months backs, through the MSPMED Project, the PA conducted a nation-wide sur- vey 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 sur- vey a number of interesting results emerge. For instance, only five per cent of the re- spondents consider their em- ployment to be related to the sea. The large number (27%) of these respondents come from the Northern Harbour Region. How often 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. The 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