CEFAS23-138 Contract for Climate Smart Marine Spatial Planning in UKOT's (DA)

In 2020 the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) worked across the six UKOT regions (Polar, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Pacific, South Atlantic) to build capacity and establish climate change baselines, with UKOTs themselves taking the lead in identifying priorities.

The next stage of this work is looking to build off these networks and the common themes around fisheries and conservation that were established.

The follow-on project will focus on climate smart marine spatial planning, scoping how best practice approaches from the UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR) research programme funded MSPACE project might be applied to the UKOTs.

In the UK, MSPACE modelling analyses have been used to map climate change risks and opportunities for the fisheries, aquaculture and marine conservation sectors, very similar to the priority areas emerging from the first MCCIP UKOTs assessment.

Working in partnership with Government Agencies, scientists, policy makers and administrators from the UKOTs, the project will: Review the potential for UKOTs to apply climate smart marine spatial planning principles.

Select 1-2 case study UKOT(s) and marine sector(s) to demonstrate how this approach could practically be applied.

Identify evidence gaps, and how to address them, to inform a roadmap for the UKOTs.

Publish, and publicise, the UKOTs roadmap, practical case study examples and a lessons learned document to share best practice that will also be applicable to other non-UKOT countries.

Requirement: This project will build on UK best practice in science-policy engagement from MCCIP and state of the art Climate Smart Marine Spatial Planning models applied through the UKRI SMMR MSPACE project.

Cefas require a supplier that has the expertise and knowledge and can use their unique models to assist MCCIP/Cefas to deliver this work.