Local ownership, local responsibility and local involvement are tools for the best possible management of the World Heritage properties. With a view to strengthen ownership, responsibility and involvement, local World Heritage advisory boards have been established at each property. These boards include members from different stakeholder groups and authorities. The world heritage coordinator takes part in the World Heritage advisory board. The board will discuss issues of relevance for the management of the particular world heritage property, ensuring that local decision-making does not compromise but rather support the world heritage values of the property.

To ensure the dialogue with local communities and stakeholders as well as their participation in World Heritage processes, the Norwegian policy foresees the identification of a World Heritage coordinator at each World Heritage property. The role of the coordinator is to coordinate dialogue and information flow between national institutions and local governments, communities and stakeholders. A yearly meeting has been established between the world heritage coordinators, the Ministry of Climate and Environment and the directorates with the aim to facilitate this dialogue. A world heritage coordinator is in place at all eight world heritage properties in Norway.

The World Heritage Coordinators work together with local stakeholders in enhancing local capacities through awareness raising and outreach campaigns aimed at communicating the Outstanding Universal Values and other values of the properties and in enhancing local understanding of what World Heritage is and what the requirements are, also looking at the importance of balancing development and conservation needs.

A Material Recovery Facility (MAREFA) is a space that receives, sorts, processes and stores recyclable materials to be shipped and marketed to end-users. MAREFA accepts materials, whether source separated or mixed, and segregates, processes and stores them for later use as raw materials for remanufacturing and reprocessing. The main function of the MAREFA is to maximize resource recovery while producing materials that will generate the highest possible revenues in the market. MAREFA will also function to process wastes into a feedstock for biological conversion or into a fuel source for the production of energy. MAREFA serves as an intermediate processing step between the collection of recyclable materials from waste generators and the sale of recyclable materials to markets for use in making new products. There are basically four components of MAREFA: sorting, processing, storage, and load-out. MAREFA is privately owned and operated by COBWAMM.

• Zoning of potential areas/neighbourhoods requiring waste collection services. 
• Identification and recruitment of potential franchisee within priority zones.
• Conduct demand stimulations.
• Connect the franchisee with the zone for service provision by providing training, tools and equipment. 

Effective customer service is achieved through the development of an online payment system and customer service enabled mobile app (currently under development). These measures enable clients to interact with the service, submit applications, requests, and payments and even look for any upcoming value chain services.

The project references and aligns with the relevant legal framework making it easier to influence and persuade current and prospective clients. The existence of a County legal framework on waste governance is critical for the success of the project. 

The National Solid Waste Management Strategy spells out national targets on waste management and is also important for the project.

The spatial database elaborated for the Azores archipelago was essentially based on the compilation of already existing and available cartographic information. This was due to the limited time period for the implementation of the MarSP project and the need for validation of information by the competent entities/authorities, in the case of the elaboration of new cartography. Thus, the new information collected was composed of information produced during the participatory process. The participatory process, with the resulting production of cartographic information, was based on two distinct steps: (i) development of individual interviews, with the main actors representing each of the sectors of maritime activities identified for the Azores and (ii) workshops for discussion and/or validation of preliminary results obtained during the research and sector interviews performed, and for adding more information (during the 3rd stakeholder workshop). To collect the data in the interviews conducted, a web-based solution (SeaSketch) was used. This solution brings together powerful tools to empower and improve the MSP process.

In order to understand the current and potential situation of maritime uses and activities in the Azores, an extensive sector analysis was elaborated, including nine sectors. For each maritime sector identified in the region, a sector briefing was done. Each sector briefing includes information relating to its characterization, the relevant legal framework, current and potential spatial distribution, a SWOT analysis, an analysis of interactions (with other sectors, with the environment and land-sea interactions), as well as an analysis of pressures resulting from different drivers of change (e.g. climate change, demographic changes and blue growth policies). This work involved an extensive collection of information, both through literature review and collected from stakeholders during the engagement process.

The Maritime Spatial Planning process plans towards a desired future and a common vision. The vision is usually an integration of various aspirations from different stakeholders and sectors that depend on the governance framework ruling them. A tool as scenarios’ development is of high importance, once it helps decision-makers visualize both the future that might unfold due to specific actions/policies and the actions/policies needed to make a certain future happen.  For the region of Azores, MarSP adopted a scenario-building process based on a combination of two approaches: an exploratory (“what can be done?”) and a normative (“how a specific objective will be reached?”).   

The methodology is structured in four main steps (Figure 1):

(i) setting MSP objectives based on policy review and following stakeholders’ inputs (BB2);

(ii) identifying key objectives after consultation with regional experts;

(iii) developing scenario storylines; and

(iv) balancing across scenarios based on feedback from stakeholders gathered through engagement actions (including, first, (i) a vote on the scenario and, second, (ii) a vote on the sentences that built the storyline of the scenarios).

Setting a vision and objectives is a fundamental initial step in all maritime spatial plans. Under the MarSP project, a methodology was created to develop MSP objectives. This methodology linked MSP objectives to established policy commitments of these archipelagos at the international, EU, national and regional levels. It was adopted in the Azores following these phases:

1. Policy review: review of marine policy to determine the objectives targeting the maritime space. The Portuguese policy horrendogram helped in the selection of policies.
2. Thematic classification of the objectives by themes and subthemes.
3. Generalisation of objectives by subthemes to obtain specific objectives.
4. Discussion, prioritisation and validation of specific objectives by stakeholders.
5. Legal validation and cross-check with MSP policy documents to finalise the MSP objectives.

During the first MSP stakeholder workshop in the Azores, stakeholders were asked to discuss and validate the specific objectives. This was also the case for the proposal of a regional MSP vision, also discussed and validated in the stakeholder workshop.