2nd European Maritime Spatial Planning Week

Several NESB project events will take place during the 2nd European Maritime Spatial Planning Week.

The European Commission is organising the European Maritime Spatial Planning Week. A week-long series of events dedicated to Maritime Spatial Planning will take place in Brussels (Belgium) from 1 to 5 June 2026, at the Nhow Bloom Hotel.

This MSP-focused week brings together key events and expert groups to foster exchange, build synergies, and accelerate progress on MSP across Europe and beyond. This year, the EU MSP Week is hosting the very first Greater North Sea Basin Initiative (GNSBI) stakeholder conference!

Detailed information and link to the registration for the week is available on the EU MSP Platform’s website here.

NESB project events during this week

MSP EMODnet & Maritime safety workshop on 2 June 2026

9:00 to 12:15 (CEST): Fitness-for-use of EMODnet for MSP – led by Seascape Belgium

This session will inform participants about EMODnet – what it currently offers and how it can be used by the MSP community, present preliminary results from the ongoing ‘EMODnet for MSP’ survey, and open up discussions with participants on the fitness-for-use of EMODnet data services for MSP practitioners. Concrete use cases will be explored, including data and metadata needs as well as usability aspects.

14:00 to 17:15 (CEST): Maritime safety integration into MSP – led by SHOM

This session will present initial findings from the maritime safety survey and involve participants in a participatory discussion on improving the integration of maritime safety into MSP processes. Topics include data availability, traffic data analysis, tools, and coordination across sea basins.

To allow the organisers to optimally prepare for the workshop, you are cordially invited to take the corresponding survey(s):

This input will be used to inform the content of the workshop.

The workshop is open for participation and will be in English.

Registration for the workshop HERE. Please note that this is an in-person workshop and that places are limited.

Joint workshop NESB project and MEDIGREEN project on 3 June 2026

Morning session

Internal session for NESB project partners

Afternoon session

NESB project and MEDIGREEN exchanges

This workshop will support knowledge exchange between NESB project work packages, facilitate cooperation between the NESB project and GNSBI, support cooperation between GNSBI and HELCOM-VASAB MSP WG and to promote inter-basin exchange between the Mediterranean and the Northern European sea basins (particularly the North Sea), based on MEDIGREEN and NESBp experiences, to advance the implementation of European Green Deal objectives through MSP.

13:10 –15:10
Workshop 1: Ecosystem-Based Management for a Maripark versus Ecosystem-Based MSP: Baltic, North and Mediterranean Sea Basins

The workshop opens with three perspectives on ecosystem-based planning and management (EBA):

The revised transnational EBA Guideline, presenting key provisions for ecosystem-based MSP in the Baltic Sea;
The ecosystem-based management of a Maripark, a tool to implement multi-use of marine space in the North Sea, with a focus on adaptive governance and de-risking the entrepreneur to improve European competitiveness;
MSP supporting nature protection in the Mediterranean.

Participants will then discuss challenges in applying and transferring EBA across the three sea basins, and jointly reflect on the institutional conditions needed to strengthen EBA and how a sustainable blue economy can have a positive impact on marine life.

Moderator: Andrea Morf // Marjoleine Nascimento da Silva

Speakers/panelist: Jan Schmidtbauer Crona (SwAM); Bernd Herremans (Mantis Consulting); Kinnie De Beule (Blue Cluster); Mónica Campillos, IEO, CSIC; Martina Bocci, CORILA

Organizers: NESBp work packages 2 (Ocean Governance) and 4 (Multi-Use- MariPark) & MEDIGREEN work package 3 (A Regional Ambition) and 4 (Maritime Culture and Exchanges)

15:25 –17:25
Workshop 2: Towards sea basin-level collaboration: co-creating scenarios for the governance of the regional seas

This workshop will focus on transboundary collaboration in practice and on governance design as a way of scenario planning for governance settings at the regional scale. In particular, it will focus on possibilities for the Greater North Sea basin, taking into account experiences and lessons learned from the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea basins.

Moderator: Christian Zuidema

Speakers/panelist: Jitske Nugter (MinIenW/GNSBI), Dmitry Frank-Kamenetsky (HELCOM), Emiliano Ramieri (CoP MED/MEDIGREEN project)

Organizers: NESBp work packages 2 (Ocean Governance) & MEDIGREEN work package 2 (Sectors at Work) 3 (A Regional Ambition) and 4 (Maritime Culture and Exchanges)

17:25-18:00
Workshop 3: NESB Project Inventory of Data, Information and Knowledge products

The ‘Knowledge Sharing Platform’ will be demonstrated, followed by an inventory of products and their technical requirements that are produced within the NESB project and could be shared via the platform.

Moderator: Sharon Tatman, Nick Boxem, Willem Stolte

GNSBI Stakeholder Conference 2026

The Greater North Sea Basin Initiative (GNSBI) is delighted to invite you to its very first Stakeholder event on 4 June 2026 in Brussels, Belgium!

The 2026 GNSBI Stakeholder Event during the EU MSP Week aims to increase the visibility and transparency of the GNSBI and its role in supporting Maritime Spatial Planning in the North Sea basin. The event will provide an opportunity for GNSBI members and stakeholders to become better acquainted and exchange perspectives on key topics relevant to the region.

www.NESBproject.eu

NESB project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the project consortium only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.