CMSP National Goals and Principles

The National Goals of Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning

For CMSP to be successful, it must be based on clear, broad-based goals that define the desired outcomes to be achieved.  CMSP in the United States would be developed and implemented to further the following goals:

1. Support sustainable, safe, secure, efficient, and productive uses of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes, including those that contribute to the economy, commerce, recreation, conservation, homeland and national security, human health, safety, and welfare;
    
2. Protect, maintain, and restore the Nation's ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources and ensure resilient ecosystems and their ability to provide sustained delivery of ecosystem services;
    
3. Provide for and maintain public access to the ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes;
    
4. Promote compatibility among uses and reduce user conflicts and environmental impacts;
    
5. Improve the rigor, coherence, efficiency, and consistency of decision-making and regulatory processes;
    
6. Increase certainty and predictability in planning for and implementing new investments for ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes uses; and
    
7. Enhance interagency, intergovernmental, and international communication and collaboration.

The National Guiding Principles for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning

In order to achieve the national goals of CMSP, planning efforts are to be guided by the following principles:

1. CMSP would use an ecosystem-based management approach that addresses cumulative effects to ensure the protection, integrity, maintenance, resilience, and restoration of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems, while promoting multiple sustainable uses.
    
2. Multiple existing uses (e.g., commercial fishing, recreational fishing and boating, subsistence uses, marine transportation, sand and gravel mining, and oil and gas operations) and emerging uses (e.g., off-shore renewable energy and aquaculture) would be managed in a manner that reduces conflict, enhances compatibility among uses and with sustained ecosystem functions and services, provides for public access, and increases certainty and predictability for economic investments.
    
3. CMSP development and implementation would ensure frequent and transparent broad-based, inclusive engagement of partners, the public, and stakeholders, including with those most impacted (or potentially impacted) by the planning process and with underserved communities. 
    
4. CMSP would take into account and build upon the existing marine spatial planning efforts at the regional, State, tribal, and local level.  
    
5. CMS Plans and the standards and methods used to evaluate alternatives, tradeoffs, cumulative effects, and sustainable uses in the planning process would be based on clearly stated objectives.
    
6. Development, implementation, and evaluation of CMS Plans would be informed by sound science and the best available information, including the natural and social sciences, and relevant local and traditional knowledge.
    
7. CMSP would be guided by the precautionary approach as reflected in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration, "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."
    
8. CMSP would be adaptive and flexible to accommodate changing environmental conditions and impacts, including those associated with global climate change, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification; and new and emerging uses, advances in science and technology, and policy changes.
    
9. CMSP objectives and progress toward those objectives would be evaluated in a regular and systematic manner, with public input, and adapted to ensure that the desired environmental, economic, and societal outcomes are achieved.
    
10. The development of CMS Plans would be coordinated and compatible with homeland and national security interests, energy needs, foreign policy interests, emergency response and preparedness plans and frameworks, and other national strategies, including the flexibility to meet current and future needs.
     
11. CMS Plans would be implemented in accordance with customary international law, including as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, and with treaties and other international agreements to which the U.S. is a party.
     
12. CMS Plans would be implemented in accordance with applicable Federal and State laws, regulations, and Executive Orders.