Integrating interactive stressors within marine spatial planning using spatial modelling and decision support tools

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) processes often aim to restore degraded habitats or protect existing high-quality habitats and for both outcomes, spatially explicit information on habitat condition is required. Most spatial planning approaches consider stressors in isolation – where management targets areas of high or low stressor ‘footprints’ for restoration or protection respectively.

Despite the advancement of MSP as an important tool for ecosystem-based management, there are currently limited methods for consideration of cumulative effects from multiple, interacting stressors in marine spatial planning processes.