Marine spatial planning for transboundary issues in bays of Fujian, China: A hierarchical system

Suzhen Yang; Qinhua Fang; Harrison Odion Ikhumhen; Lusita Meilana; Shouqin Zhu

Ecological Indicators (Mar 2022)

Marine spatial planning for transboundary issues in bays of Fujian, China: A hierarchical system

Suzhen Yang,
Qinhua Fang,
Harrison Odion Ikhumhen,
Lusita Meilana,
Shouqin Zhu

Affiliations

Suzhen Yang: Xiamen Key Laboratory of Urban Sea Ecological Conservation and Restoration (USER), Xiamen University, 361102, China; College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, 361102, China
Qinhua Fang: Xiamen Key Laboratory of Urban Sea Ecological Conservation and Restoration (USER), Xiamen University, 361102, China; College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, 361102, China; Coastal and Ocean Management Institute, Xiamen University, 361102, China; Corresponding author.
Harrison Odion Ikhumhen: College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, 361102, China
Lusita Meilana: College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, 361102, China; Coastal and Ocean Management Institute, Xiamen University, 361102, China
Shouqin Zhu: Coastal and Ocean Management Institute, Xiamen University, 361102, China

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 136
p. 108622

Abstract

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Transboundary issue is one of the main concerns of marine spatial planning (MSP) studies around the world, including China. With few studies on the effective approaches to address the transboundary issues in MSP reported, this study aims to assess the coordination effectiveness of transboundary bays at both municipal level MSP and provincial level MSP, using Xiamen Bay, Meizhou Bay, and Xinghua Bay in Fujian province as the study areas. To conduct this study, a method of sea use intensity and conflict was applied and developed to evaluate the coordination effectiveness of MSP at the municipal and provincial levels. A scoring method was applied to obtain each sea use intensity value (based on marine resources and impacts on marine environment) and the sea use pair conflict value (based on the influence or interference of two adjacent sea use types). Afterward, the outcome of this work was calculated and visualized using GIS tools. The results revealed that both the sea use intensity and conflict at municipal were higher than that of the provincial level MSP, which clearly indicates the existence of conflict between hierarchical MSP, furthermore, this study also revealed the necessity for transboundary coordination analysis since the highest sea use conflict was observed at the cross-boundary area of the provincial level MSP and in the city interior area of the municipal level. Based on the overall study, it was observed that the sea use conflict value had a negative relationship with sea use intensity value, most of which were showcased in Xiamen Bay having the lowest sea use intensity but the highest sea use conflict at both hierarchical levels MSP (SUIV, 3.87 and 4.61. SUCV, 8.60 and 9.38 at the municipal and provincial level MSP respectively), this is believed to be impacted by the increased marine industrial structure and a lack of spatial coordination. The results of this study will help the government to improve the MSP coordination in transboundary bays at the hierarchical systems, and inform potential future revisions of the coastal zone utilization at local, regional, and national scales.

Published in Ecological Indicators

ISSN: 1470-160X (Print); 1872-7034 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Biology (General): Ecology
Website: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/ecological-indicators

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