Governance, maritime law and maritime spatial planning

Brest is right beside the Iroise Marine Natural Park and is home to the European Institute for Marine Studies (IUEM). Nowhere else in France is there such a deep pool of knowledge about governing maritime zones, the law of the sea or maritime spatial planning. Take for example the joint research unit Amure, a centre for multidisciplinary, cutting-edge research and training in humanities and social sciences as applied to coasts and oceans.

The University of Brest, France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Institute for Ocean Science (Ifremer) are partners in this joint centre of excellence. It produces research on a wide range of subjects, from sustainable development in maritime activity, through support for public policy, to observations on how policy impacts developments in social-ecological systems both onshore and offshore.

Brest also hosts the Sea and Coast part of Cerema, the public body that helps French national and local governments draw up, implement and evaluate policy on planning and transport. It covers questions like coastal zones, port facilities, maritime transport, and the positive and negative impacts of offshore wind turbines. Cerema benefits from close ties to a local network of public and private sector bodies that is growing and developing. A major resource centre on ocean, coastal and maritime spatial planning policy, Cerema is overseen by the French Ministry for Environmental Transition and Regional Cohesion.

Photo: MSP_Rennes_C.GUILLOU