Action Framework for Accelerating Marine Spatial Planning in the Western Pacific and its Adjacent Areas (2025–2030)

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) has become increasingly recognized as an effective way to balance rising demands for marine and maritime spaces with the need to preserve ocean ecosystems.

The Western Pacific is home to the world’s highest level of marine biodiversity and productivity. The region is densely populous, rapidly developing, and highly vulnerable. Coastal countries in the region rely on the ocean for food, job opportunities, economic growth, and cultural heritage. However, conflicts among multiple sectors for sea area use are intensifying in many coastal areas. Against this backdrop, there is an increasing need for accelerating marine spatial planning processes in the Western Pacific.

Responding to countries’ needs, the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) initiated the UN Decade Action - ‘Accelerate Marine Spatial Planning in the Western Pacific’ (UN21) at the 13ᵗʰ Intergovernmental Session in 2021. The UN Decade Action - UN21 will build upon the achievements of the MSPglobal initiative and further promote and accelerate MSP in the Western Pacific region. It is intended to assist Member States in adopting an ecosystem-based approach to ocean resource management, fostering a sustainable blue economy, and achieving the 2030 Agenda as a whole.

This MSP Regional Action Framework (2025-2030) aims to provide a portfolio of enabling actions that WESTPAC, along with its Member States in the region and various national and international partners, will undertake to accelerate MSP processes, with the goal of creating effective pathways for ecosystem-based management, a sustainable blue economy, and the fulfillment of both national and international ocean-related commitments.