Legal Framework for Marine Spatial Planning of the Canary Islands

Abstract

In the MarSP Project I’ve studied the legislation about all marine and maritime activities that can be developed in the Canarian waters. We are looking for the balance between economic growth and sustainability. For these reasons our mission was directed towards a tangible and facilitated development of the economic sector that, at the same time, takes into consideration the need of the environment and its restoration.In recent years, Europe has made a great effort to address the maritime spatial planning from a multisectoral and ecosystem approach. It is essential to check the current legislation and suggest possible changes to improve the condition of the healthy sea and facilitate the sustainable development of human activities.As a member of the MarSP Project legal TOTMA group, we have developed some concrete legal proposal to simplify some redundant steps, modernize obsolete laws and make the investments in Canary waters more attractive and respectful of the marine environment.The key to this long search was the combination of the joint knowledge of various and different legislation. Legally, in fact, this broad knowledge allows connections between laws of different subjects and the discovery of any errors or gaps to be solved for the next planning.