IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v34y2026is1p456-469.html

Toward Sustainable Development in the Ocean: A Framework for Blue Economy Marine Spatial Planning

Author

Listed:
  • Jen‐Han Yang
  • Jen‐Yu Yang
  • Yi Chang

Abstract

The Blue Economy (BE) has emerged as a prominent concept that emphasizes the integration of environmental, economic, and social factors for the sustainable utilization of marine resources. Effective planning through Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) seeks to harmonize traditional and emerging marine industries, thereby mitigating conflicts and developmental pressures on natural resources, enhancing marine ecological protection, and fostering a sustainable BE. Nonetheless, MSP encounters challenges in reconciling BE growth with the sustainable multi‐use of oceanic spaces throughout the planning process. In Taiwan, despite the presence of extensive coastal governance regulations, the absence of a comprehensive MSP institution and operational framework has led to conflicts among maritime sectors, raising concerns regarding the future of maritime development. This study proposes a Blue Economy Marine Spatial Planning (BEMSP) framework designed to support multi‐use governance by emphasizing flexibility and adaptability across both legal and non‐legal governance settings, aiming to guide government decision‐makers in enhancing marine management and development. The framework provides two distinct pathways: (1) a structured approach under formal legal systems; and (2) bottom‐up, participatory, and cross‐sectoral planning approaches that support the coexistence of multiple marine economic activities in settings without dedicated MSP legislation or institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jen‐Han Yang & Jen‐Yu Yang & Yi Chang, 2026. "Toward Sustainable Development in the Ocean: A Framework for Blue Economy Marine Spatial Planning," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(S1), pages 456-469, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:34:y:2026:i:s1:p:456-469
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.70183
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.70183
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.70183?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hsin-Hua Tsai & Huan-Sheng Tseng & Chun-Kai Huang & Su-Chun Yu, 2022. "Review on the Conflicts between Offshore Wind Power and Fishery Rights: Marine Spatial Planning in Taiwan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Kerr, S. & Johnson, K. & Side, J.C., 2014. "Planning at the edge: Integrating across the land sea divide," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 118-125.
    3. Visbeck, Martin & Kronfeld-Goharani, Ulrike & Neumann, Barbara & Rickels, Wilfried & Schmidt, Jörn & van Doorn, Erik & Matz-Lück, Nele & Proelss, Alexander, 2014. "A Sustainable Development Goal for the Ocean and Coasts: Global ocean challenges benefit from regional initiatives supporting globally coordinated solutions," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 87-89.
    4. Pomeroy, Robert & Douvere, Fanny, 2008. "The engagement of stakeholders in the marine spatial planning process," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 816-822, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quero García, Pablo & Chica Ruiz, Juan Adolfo & García Sanabria, Javier, 2020. "Blue energy and marine spatial planning in Southern Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Marilena Papageorgiou & Georgia Pozoukidou & Theodora Istoriou & Theoni Kostopoulou, 2024. "Inclusive Maritime Spatial Planning: Stakes at the Regional Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Ralph V Tafon, 2018. "Taking power to sea: Towards a post-structuralist discourse theoretical critique of marine spatial planning," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(2), pages 258-273, March.
    4. Natália M. P. de Alencar & Martin Le Tissier & Shona K. Paterson & Alice Newton, 2020. "Circles of Coastal Sustainability: A Framework for Coastal Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-27, June.
    5. Hynes, Stephen & Norton, Danny & Corless, Rebecca, 2013. "Public Perceptions of the Irish Marine Environment," Working Papers 160056, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    6. Brennan, Jonathon & Fitzsimmons, Clare & Gray, Tim & Raggatt, Laura, 2014. "EU marine strategy framework directive (MSFD) and marine spatial planning (MSP): Which is the more dominant and practicable contributor to maritime policy in the UK?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 359-366.
    7. Sander Van den Burg & Marian Stuiver & Jenny Norrman & Rita Garção & Tore Söderqvist & Christine Röckmann & Jan-Joost Schouten & Ole Petersen & Raul Guanche García & Pedro Diaz-Simal & Mark De Bel & L, 2016. "Participatory Design of Multi-Use Platforms at Sea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-17, January.
    8. Edison D. Macusi & Andre Chagas da Costa-Neves & Christian Dave Tipudan & Ricardo P. Babaran, 2023. "Closed Season and the Distribution of Small-Scale Fisheries Fishing Effort in Davao Gulf, Philippines," World, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-16, January.
    9. Wright, Glen & O’Hagan, Anne Marie & de Groot, Jiska & Leroy, Yannick & Soininen, Niko & Salcido, Rachael & Castelos, Montserrat Abad & Jude, Simon & Rochette, Julien & Kerr, Sandy, 2016. "Establishing a legal research agenda for ocean energy," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 126-134.
    10. Christine Bertram & Martin F. Quaas, 2017. "Biodiversity and Optimal Multi-species Ecosystem Management," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(2), pages 321-350, June.
    11. Marian Stuiver & Sander van den Burg & Wenting Chen & Claire Haggett & David Rudolph & Phoebe Koundouri, 2020. "Stakeholder involvement in technological design: Lessons learned from the MERMAID and TROPOS projects," DEOS Working Papers 2019, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    12. Mulvaney, Kate K. & Lee, Seungyoon & Höök, Tomas O. & Prokopy, Linda S., 2015. "Casting a net to better understand fisheries management: An affiliation network analysis of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 120-131.
    13. Urquhart, Julie & Ambrose-Oji, Bianca & Chiswell, Hannah & Courtney, Paul & Lewis, Nick & Powell, John & Reed, Matt & Williams, Chris, 2023. "A co-design framework for natural resource policy making: Insights from tree health and fisheries in the United Kingdom," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Miriam von Thenen & Aurelija Armoškaitė & Víctor Cordero-Penín & Sara García-Morales & Josefine B. Gottschalk & Débora Gutierrez & Malena Ripken & Pascal Thoya & Kerstin S. Schiele, 2021. "The Future of Marine Spatial Planning—Perspectives from Early Career Researchers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-12, December.
    15. Almutairi, Ayedh & Collier, Zachary A. & Hendrickson, Daniel & Palma-Oliveira, José M. & Polmateer, Thomas L. & Lambert, James H., 2019. "Stakeholder mapping and disruption scenarios with application to resilience of a container port," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 219-232.
    16. Tryphinah Mulalambuka & Dr. Euston Kapotwe, 2025. "An Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Stakeholders’ Engagement Strategy- A Case of the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) in Lusaka, Zambia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(4), pages 1916-1938, April.
    17. Wright, Glen, 2015. "Marine governance in an industrialised ocean: A case study of the emerging marine renewable energy industry," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 77-84.
    18. Jay, Stephen & Klenke, Thomas & Janßen, Holger, 2016. "Consensus and variance in the ecosystem approach to marine spatial planning: German perspectives and multi-actor implications," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 129-138.
    19. Scarff, Gavin & Fitzsimmons, Clare & Gray, Tim, 2015. "The new mode of marine planning in the UK: Aspirations and challenges," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 96-102.
    20. Dimitra Syrou & Iosif Botetzagias, 2022. "Stakeholders’ Perceptions Concerning Greek Protected Areas Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-23, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:34:y:2026:i:s1:p:456-469. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.