Learning from Experience: Lessons from Community-based Engagement for Improving Participatory Marine Spatial Planning

ABSTRACT Marine spatial planning (MSP) is critiqued for inadequate stakeholder engagement practices, particularly for determining community-level interests. Community engagement is foundational to community planning, a local-level process in terrestrial planning. This study compared the community engagement experiences of practitioners in local and national-level organizations in Nova Scotia, Canada, likely to participate in MSP to participatory best practice principles identified in the terrestrial planning and environmental management literature. Giving more attention to knowledge and skills of local government and community groups could strengthen participatory practices in MSP, link community and marine planning, and increase the relevance of MSP for coastal community development.