Marine Plan Partnership - A Model for Successful Stakeholder Engagement in Collaborative Marine Planning Process

The Marine Planning Partnership for the Pacific North Coast (MaPP) is a unique and recent collaborative planning and engagement initiative of relevance that may provide a useful model in future zone management initiatives. ... [ view full abstract ]

The Marine Planning Partnership for the Pacific North Coast (MaPP) is a unique and recent collaborative planning and engagement initiative of relevance that may provide a useful model in future zone management initiatives. The MaPP partners (First Nations organizations and the BC government) jointly designed the process for, and jointly developed marine plans, using a rigorous approach for engagement at sub-regional and regional planning levels. Engagement included standing plan advisory committees that in total represented more than 10 stakeholder interest groups or areas of expertise, 22 coastal communities and interested members of the general public across an area from the Alaska boundary to Campbell River in British Columbia.  The  MaPP  engagement model included a high frequency of meetings with advisory committees, included financial support for stakeholder participation in meetings and with their own constituents, and used an iterative cycle of input and discussion that helped to achieve broad stakeholder support for the final marine plans. This presentation describes the MaPP engagement policy, the resulting engagement structures and process of obtaining input, information and advice throughout the planning process. It concludes with lessons learned in delivering an effective advisory-based approach.