What is Marine Planning?

Marine planning is a process for managing ocean spaces. It guides the right development and activities to the right places. For example, marine planning can be used to prioritize renewable energy development in areas with strong winds. Marine planning often also identifies areas for conservation or protection, such as environmentally or culturally valued areas. Ultimately, marine planning can be used to minimize conflicts between users, protect culture and the environment, maximize benefits (including cultural, environmental, and economic benefits), and shape how saltwater areas, including islands, will look in the future.

Marine planning identifies solutions and puts them into action. Solutions can involve specifying where, when, and/or how human activities are allowed to take place (i.e. application of spatial and temporal management measures). In addition, marine planning can identify solutions that focus on fostering coordination, understanding, and communication across individuals and organizations (i.e. creation of a comprehensive marine governance system).

Marine planning can provide mechanisms for management where tools are not yet available as well as help address complex, multifaceted challenges that no one agency can tackle alone, such as climate change or Arctic sovereignty.

Marine Planning Key Concepts

Participatory

Marine planning is inclusive. It requires engagement with rights holders, stakeholders, and governing bodies to develop shared values and goals surrounding how land and waters should be used. Together, these groups identify the issues, challenges, and opportunities to be addressed within the planning process.

The participatory nature of marine planning builds trust and improves the quality of decision-making. Marine planning should:

Acknowledge and respect the history of an area, as well as distinct rights, worldviews, livelihoods, lifestyles, and knowledge.
Involve engagement that is broad, well-timed, and meaningful.
Support the fair distribution of the benefits, harms, and risks related to decisions.

Ecosystem-Based Management

Ecosystem-based management is an integrated approach to management that considers the entire ecosystem, including humans. The goal of ecosystem-based management is to maintain healthy ecosystems so they can support healthy communities. Bringing an ecosystem-based approach into marine planning helps planning processes look beyond jurisdictional boundaries, consider cumulative impacts, apply a precautionary approach, and remain adaptive over time.

Precautionary Approach

In the absence of information for a given decision, take the approach that is likely to result in the least harm.

Multi-Sectoral

Marine planning does not replace single-sector planning or management, such as fishery zones or marine protected areas. Instead, it serves as a multi-sectoral tool to coordinate different groups and facilitate negotiation among them. Marine planning puts single-sector decisions into a broader context and guides decision-makers towards achieving shared goals.

Shared Responsibility

Marine planning bodies, including the NMRPC, often do not control individual sectors or have the authority to put into practice all aspects of marine use plans. As a result, the implementation of marine use plans often requires coordination with other agencies, such as federal and territorial governments.

Spatial

Maps are an important part of marine planning. They are used to understand where human uses are taking place, and are expected to take place, as well as where important environmental and cultural features are located. Maps help identify where conflicts may occur so the conflicts can be prevented. They also help explore possible partnerships and opportunities for coordination.

Information and Data Driven

A broad range of information sources are used within marine planning. In the Nunavik Marine Region, this includes Inuit knowledge, local knowledge, scientific literature, expert scientific opinion, as well as industry and government sources.

Blue Economy

The blue economy allows for economic growth and enhanced ocean health at the same time. It involves the sustainable use of ocean resources in a manner consistent with principles of social equity and inclusion. Marine planning is an enabler of the blue economy because it can identify areas for new and emerging uses, support the coexistence of different sectors within the same spaces, and foster collaboration.

Marine Planning Phases

The steps for creating a Marine Use Plan vary depending on a range of factors, including where the plan is being developed, who is developing it, and why it is being developed. While planning processes may move through phases one after another, more often they involve returning to earlier phases or conducting different phases at the same time.

In the Nunavik Marine Region, marine planning involves seven phases.

1 Process Initiation

The NMRPC was established with the signing of the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement (NILCA) on December 1, 2006. The NILCA came into effect on June 10, 2008 and the first meeting of the NMRPC took place in 2009.

As an institution of public government, the NMRPC is a joint management board through which Nunavik Inuit and the Governments of Canada and Nunavut co-manage land, waters, and resources, including wildlife, in the Nunavik Marine Region for the benefit of all Nunavimmiut.

2 Initial Preparation and Information Gathering

Data and information are the foundation of marine planning. In the Nunavik Marine Region, this involves seeking and applying knowledge from a range of sources, including Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, local knowledge, academic literature and guidance, as well as industry and government sources. To establish baseline understanding, the NMRPC completed a data collection initiative (2011-2014), use and occupancy map survey (2011-2016), Nunavik Marine Region Atlas (2018-2019), and core use areas analysis (2019-2020). The NMRPC will enhance and update its understanding of the Nunavik Marine Region through continuous learning throughout the planning process.

Clear structures and transparent processes are also key to marine planning. Between 2020 and 2024, the NMRPC filled staff vacancies, renewed and streamlined operating procedures and internal policies, updated bylaws and governance policies, and launched a range of online and digital resources, including an Open Information Portal and an NMRPC app.

3 Marine Planning Strategy

As outlined in the NILCA, the NMRPC is responsible for establishing broad planning policies, objectives, and goals for the Nunavik Marine Region. The NMRPC has drafted these elements and is currently working to validate them with planning partners, including ensuring that they reflect the voices of Nunavimmiut and especially the values and needs of Nunavik Inuit. Once established, the broad planning policies, objectives, and goals will form the Marine Planning Strategy and will guide the creation of the Marine Use Plan for the Nunavik Marine Region.

Engagement for the co-development of the Marine Planning Strategy includes the following:

2023: A Community Tour to introduce the NMRPC to communities and hear their opinions on the Nunavik Marine Region.

2024-2025: Marine Planning Strategy Surveys to seek input on draft values, goals, objectives, actions, and priorities for the draft strategy. A Targeted Survey was delivered to experts in the marine environment and focused on Nunavimmiut harvesters and elders; a Public Survey was provided to all Nunavik Inuit, Nunavimmiut, and others interested in the Nunavik Marine Region; and an Organization Survey was shared with a broad range of agencies, including land claims organizations, industry and businesses, government, academia, and non-governmental organizations.

2025: Wellbeing workshops to learn about what wellbeing means to Nunavimmiut and how it can be protected and promoted through marine planning.

4 Marine Planning

Ongoing engagement with planning partners is vital to successful marine planning. Marine planning involves analyzing the current situation in the Nunavik Marine Region and potential futures (e.g. who is in the region, what are they doing, and where are they doing it?), exploring conflicts and compatibilities between activities, and considering how to coordinate different activities now and in the future. Draft Marine Use Plans will be prepared and validated with planning partners.

5 Marine Use Plan

Once a satisfactory draft Marine Use Plan is ready, it will move on to the federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC) and the Government of Nunavut Minister responsible for renewable resources. The Ministers may provide feedback that requires revisions to the draft plan. Depending on the nature of the comments, the NMRPC may simply add the feedback to the draft Marine Use Plan or may conduct further engagement with planning partners. Once the federal and territorial Ministers agree with the plan, it will go for approval by Cabinet and the Executive Council.

6 Implementation and Enforcement

The NMRPC will implement the approved Marine Use Plan with its planning partners.

With regard to proposed projects within the Nunavik Marine Region, the NMRPC and the Governments of Canada and Nunavut have key roles as follows:

The NMRPC is responsible for:

Reviewing all project proposals for development and activities in the Nunavik Marine Region to determine whether they are in line with the Marine Use Plan.
Forwarding project proposals with its determinations and any recommendations to the appropriate federal and territorial agencies.

Federal and territorial agencies are responsible for conducting their activities and operations in accordance with the Marine Use Plan. This involves:

Only issuing permits and authorizations for proposed developments and activities in the Nunavik Marine Region that are in line with the Marine Use Plan, or only issuing permits and authorizations with terms and conditions that would bring proposed developments and activities into compliance with the plan.

Undertaking their own work in ways that are in line with the Marine Use Plan.

The NILCA requires that the federal and territorial governments only issue permits and authorizations consistent with the Marine Use Plan. In enforcing the requirements of their permits and authorizations, federal and territorial agencies will indirectly enforce the NILCA.

7 Monitoring, Evaluation, and Adaptation

The NMRPC will monitor the implementation of the Marine Use Plan and evaluate its success in advancing marine planning goals and objectives in the Nunavik Marine Region. As needed, the Marine Use Plan will be adapted to ensure its continued relevance.

The Governments of Canada and Nunavut, Makivvik Designated Organizations, or any person affected by the Marine Use Plan can propose amendments. The NMRPC will consider the proposed amendments and, if it finds that reviews are needed, will review the proposals publicly. After public processes are complete, the NMRPC may reject proposed changes or send the proposed changes, or an amended version of them, to the appropriate federal and territorial Ministers for review and approval. Ultimately, the Ministers must approve any amendment before it becomes part of the Marine Use Plan.

Nunavik Marine Region Planning Commission