Planning for Blue Economy: Prospects of Maritime Spatial Planning in Bangladesh.

Abstract

Over the years, there has been a growing concern
to adopt new strategies for sustainable marine resource
management. Coastal countries are implementing new policies,
methods and plans to develop long term vision and secure
financial investments for their coastal and marine spaces.
Recently maritime spatial planning (MSP) is gaining attention as
a new approach to sustainable marine resource management by
integrating economic, environmental and social concerns is same
management platform. In many countries, MSP has been proved
as an effective tool to implement ecosystem based approach of
planning to achieve long term maritime vision. Bangladesh, with
growing economic interest on coastal and marine resources, is
looking to adopt best strategies for achieving blue economy goals.
However, degrading ocean health due to anthropogenic pressure
and impact of climate change are major challenges that need to
be faced. This paper explores implication of Maritime Spatial
Planning for ocean resource management to achieve blue
economy goals and overcome future environmental constraints as
well. The authors aim to introduce maritime spatial planning
(MSP) as potential tool for sustainable marine resource
management to wide range of researchers, professionals working
with coastal and marine issues in Bangladesh to encourage
further research and exploration.