31 January 2019: The Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) LME:LEARN project has released five toolkits to support the marine community in managing Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). The toolkits aim to promote best practices and innovative approaches in integrated coastal management, marine protected areas (MPAs), marine spatial planning (MSP) and coastal and marine climate change adaptation projects.

The ‘Large Marine Ecosystem Strategic Approach Toolkit’ presents the GEF’s revised strategic approach to designing an LME project by incorporating a five-module ecosystem approach on productivity, fish and fisheries, pollution and ecosystem health, socioeconomics and governance. The toolkit underscores the strategic importance of the transboundary diagnostic analysis (TDA) process, strategic action programmes and national actions plans and recommendations for strengthening these processes.

The ‘Large Marine Ecosystems Governance Toolkit’ compiles illustrative examples and tools for analyzing and strengthening LME governance frameworks. The ‘Stakeholder Participation in Environmental Policy Toolkit’ shares best practice tools for engaging stakeholders in environmental management at multiple scales. The toolkit provides an overview of tools for effective stakeholder engagement, including a framework for working collaboratively, approaches for identifying relevant stakeholders and strategies for reaching agreements.

The ‘Marine Spatial Planning Toolkit’ provides guidance and tools for practitioners to design and implement the MSP process in a transboundary LME context. The ‘Environmental Economics for Marine Ecosystems Management Toolkit’ describes how to use environmental economics to support marine decision-making and climate adaptation interventions.

LME:LEARN is a joint project of the GEF, UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) and partners that aims to improve global ecosystem-based governance of LMEs and their coasts through capacity building, knowledge sharing, South-South and North-South learning and partnerships. [GEF International Waters LME:LEARN Toolkit Webpage] [UNEP News Story]