ABSTRACT
The range of international agreements dealing with different aspects in the ocean realm has contributed to international norm-setting for ocean governance, but implementation at the national and regional levels continues to be a challenge. Terrestrial private protected areas safeguard millions of hectares of biologically significant habitat worldwide, but uptake on submerged lands has been limited, due primarily to the erroneous assumption that the oceans are part of the commons and cannot be owned or leased. Demand for outputs usually exceeds the capacity of marine areas to meet all of the demands simultaneously. Marine spatial planning is a public process of analyzing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic, and social objectives that usually have been specified through a political process. Marine spatial planning is not a substitute for single-sector planning and management. The marine spatial planning process results in a comprehensive plan or vision for a marine area.
