Establishing the basis for Marine Spatial Planning in the Azores through a participatory process

The Maritime Spatial Plan of the Azores was designed in a transparent and inclusive process, with the active involvement of a wide range of stakeholders. A strategy for stakeholder engagement and guidelines for public participation were drafted for this purpose. The engagement was designed in a series of three stakeholder workshops held simultaneously in the three most populated islands of the archipelago (São Miguel, Terceira and Faial). The workshops had the same structure, which combined communication about the MSP progress as well as activities to discuss, complement and validate the project outcomes. Prior to the workshops, stakeholders were mapped using the snowball technique. All identified stakeholders were assembled in the regional stakeholder directory and invited to participate in the events over the two years of the project. Complementary activities such as interviews were undertaken to fill important knowledge gaps related to specific maritime sectors.

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.

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).

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 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.