Recommendations to promote knowledge exchange and transfer on MSP.

To date, capacity development in Marine/Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) has mostly targeted professionals directly involved in the development of MSP plans. However, MSP is a public process that must engage all levels of stakeholders effectively during the policy development, and, in order to accomplish it, stakeholders need to have the appropriate knowledge about MSP to take informed decisions. In this context, communication, knowledge exchange and transfer, and ocean literacy activities are key aspects that need to be promoted. Within capacity development, knowledge exchange is a two-way process of sharing different types of knowledge (technical, scientific and traditional), but also ideas and experiences. It is intended to be mutually beneficial and provide inputs to problem solving. Therefore, these recommendations were developed to advise professionals directly involved in the development of MSP plans on how to promote knowledge exchange and transfer towards other public authorities, private actors and civil society. These stakeholders are, indeed, the final users, implementers and beneficiaries of the MSP plans. The publication was developed in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 and its target on transfer of marine technology, as well as taking into account the “Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission”1 . The issue of which knowledge needs to be transferred, to whom and how to do it are aspects approached in this document, with concrete actions and recommendations whenever possible. What is Transfer of Marine Technology (TMT)? The United Nations Convention of the Law of The Sea (UNCLOS) contains a number of provisions dealing with transfer of marine technology (TMT). In this regard, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO-IOC) is the only intergovernmental organization with a specific mandate in marine capacity building in all of the world’s ocean basins. Marine technology may include instruments, equipment, vessels, processes or methodologies required to produce and use knowledge to improve the study and understanding of the nature and resources of the ocean and coastal area.