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Since 1997, IOC-UNESCO has been developing and applying the concepts of coastal and marine management and planning, as part of its institutional strategy. The conclusions of the first international conference on marine spatial planning (MSP) in 2006 led to the publication of the first step-by-step guide to support IOC-UNESCO’s Member States in the development of marine spatial plans. IOC-UNESCO and the European Commission committed themselves in 2017 to promote the development of MSP at global level through a roadmap (MSProadmap) open to all countries of the world. Ibero-American countries are active beneficiaries of this roadmap and the MSPglobal Initiative, in its pilot cases in the Western Mediterranean and the Southeast Pacific. The objective is to support the implementation of actions to advance national planning processes considering transboundary aspects in favor of institutional exchange and cooperation at regional level. This article puts into context the present and future joint work of the IOC-UNESCO and its Ibero-American Member States, in line with the commitments and objectives of the Agenda 2030 and the Ocean Decade (2021-2030).

Although stakeholder participation is transversal to other steps of the Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) process, its recognition and adoption is context dependent. Considering that MSP plans need to be periodically evaluated, not only in relation to their outputs and outcomes, but also through an analysis of the processes used to achieve the results, criteria to evaluate participation throughout the whole process are needed. However, a robust and comprehensive assessment framework focused specifically on participation is not available up to date. Therefore, this study proposed an assessment for such operational analysis in order to support assessment of consequences related to the participatory strategy chosen (e.g., increased social acceptance). A Stakeholder Participation Assessment Framework (SPAF) was developed and divided in two phases: Phase I based on key theoretical aspects ‘why, who, when and how to engage stakeholders’, as well as on criteria for costs (these five criteria were divided in 15 sub-criteria, and instructions based on social science knowledge to analyse each one were given); and Phase II in which a list of questions about participatory consequences can be addressed based on specific criteria of the first phase and stakeholders' feedback. SPAF can be used not only to evaluate MSP planning cycles but also to plan meaningful participatory processes; therefore, contributing to strengthen MSP processes and to promote more horizontal and integrated ocean governance approaches.

A novel blue planning discourse has been elevated through marine spatial planning (MSP) discussions in Brazil since 2011, following the evolution of international ocean governance policy innovation in the past decades. This paper investigates the early evolution stages of a socio-political arena around MSP in Brazil using as reference the IOC-UNESCO's step-by-step approach. It also employs the interactive governance theory to describe and analyze the challenges and opportunities in four phases in the evolution of a MSP policy arena at the Brazil's Blue Amazon level; and discuss it in terms of five major functional governability narratives this trajectory evoke to actors in this new interactive governance playing field. The evolution of Brazilian MSP arena was triggered by discussions at the international level (Phase I – 2011 to 2012), which encountered some resistance until it was reframed under a new formal intra-governmental institutional building process (Phase II – 2012 to 2013). Following a rapid surge and apparent early advances in MSP discussions (Phase III - 2014), the final (current) Phase IV can be characterized by the quiescence of the innovation process led by federal government, and the rise in numbers and diversity of agents in the MSP policy arena. It is noted with this analysis that Brazil is behind the international schedule on MSP, as it is still struggling in the ‘articulation and framing phase’. The analysis of thirty-four challenges and opportunities identified in this trajectory shows that improving functional capacities to govern (governability) the ocean in Brazil will require all actors to: (1) streamline cross-network knowledge-exchange to improve the nascent MSP arena; (2) further understand institutional dynamics impeding policy integration; (3) foster a more symmetrically responsive ocean governance arena; (4) promote coordinated scaling through principle-based policy-building and; (5) strengthening critical but proactive civil society participation at multiple, interrelated area-based ocean governance innovation frontlines. The accumulated capacities shared by existing knowledge-to-action networks in Brazil may render the emerging arena a dynamic, creative, and regional ocean learning experiment.

Erosion on coral reefs produces fragments of the constructor organisms that are scattered all around, thus enlarging the reef boundaries. Statistical modelling approach was used to investigate whether the Polychaeta community around Sebastião Gomes reef (Abrolhos Bank, Brazil) is influenced equally by sediment characteristics and/or by position related to the reef, that are variables related to the terrigenous input influence. In July 2007, a period dominated by winds that resuspend fine sediment from the land to coastal reefs, sediment samples were taken on four transects perpendicular to the reef (S, W, N and E) and a total of 121 species of polychaetes were recorded. The most abundant species was the carnivorous Goniadides carolinae and the model selected for it approximates to the best models fitted for both total macrofauna and polychaete abundance. These models represented higher abundance in coarse carbonate sediments on windward reef faces, where there is almost no terrigenous sediment. On the other hand, the Polychaeta richness did not depend on the transects. Sebastião Gomes reef is one of the many coastal reefs from Abrolhos Bank, whose healthy is probably in danger because of the increase of mud related to human activities, as deforestation and, recently, mining waste. Resumo Fragmentos dos recifes de coral constituem parte do sedimento ao redor dos mesmos, ampliando os limites do recife. Modelos estatísticos foram criados para investigar se a comunidade de poliquetas ao redor do recife Sebastião Gomes (Banco dos Abrolhos, Brasil) é influenciada pelas características do sedimento e/ou pela posição ao redor do recife, que são variáveis relacionadas à influência do aporte terrígeno. Em julho de 2007, período dominado por ventos que ressuspendem o sedimento fino da costa para os recifes, amostras de sedimento foram coletadas em quatro transectos perpendiculares ao recife (S, O, N e L). A espécie de poliqueta mais abundante foi o carnívoro Goniadides carolinae e o modelo selecionado para descrever a distribuição desta espécie foi muito semelhante aos ajustados tanto para a abundância de macrofauna quanto de poliquetas. Estes modelos apresentaram alta abundância em sedimentos carbonáticos grossos na face do recife exposta aos ventos, onde quase não há sedimento terrígeno. Por outro lado, a riqueza de poliquetas não foi influenciada pela posição dos transectos. Sebastião Gomes é um dos muitos recifes costeiros do Banco dos Abrolhos, cuja saúde está prejudicada devido ao aumento de lama relacionada a atividades humanas, como desmatamento e, recentemente, rejeitos da mineração.