Abstract
Since UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) launched in 2017 their Joint Roadmap to accelerate marine/maritime spatial planning (MSP) processes worldwide1, the number of countries that have initiated, advanced or approved their own MSP processes has increased significantly. Through the active and effective participation of policy mak-ers, representatives of maritime sectors, academia, citizens and other stakeholders in activities organised in all corners of the ocean, the MSPglobal Initiative has contributed to improving cross-border and transboundary cooperation where marine spatial plans already existed or were being prepared, and to promoting planning processes in regions where they have not yet been launched. As we enter this new decade, the goal set by the Joint Roadmap remains today to triple the marine area benefiting from MSP, approved and led by governments and their citizens and effectively implemented in more than 30% of marine areas under national jurisdiction by 2030. This is in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and supported by national and regional initiatives in the framework of the United Nations Decades of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and on Ecosystem Restoration.