The “good environmental status” as an integrating element of marine strategies with maritime spatial plans

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to analyze the marine environment planning instruments established in the The Marine Strategy Framework Directive and in the Directive for maritime spatial planning, in the context of the integrated maritime policy of the European Union, and their transposition into the internal Spanish scope. This way, the development and revision in process of the Marine Strategies approved for the five Spanish maritime demarcations is studied, as well as the ongoing development process of the Maritime Space Management Plans for those same five Spanish maritime demarcations, in order to achieve a sustainable growth of maritime economies without undermining the sustainable development of marine areas. In the same way, the interrelationship between Marine Strategies and Maritime Spatial Planning Plans is analyzed and, in this regard, we try to respond from the well-known main role that the oceans and the sea have in the fight against climate change.