Administering the marine environment – the spatial dimension

Administering the spatial dimension of the marine environment is very important as decision‐makers in both land and marine related areas of the coastal zone need to access marine related datasets in order to effectively achieve their economic, social and environmental objectives. There is also the challenge of managing the complex interactions between, and competing rights of, stakeholders within the marine environment.

This paper aims to discuss both the current and future direction of marine administration, including the development of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) as a tool to achieve efficient management, concentrating on Asia and the Pacific region. This includes the socioeconomic, policy and technical challenges and issues faced by countries within this jurisdiction, as well as an overview of the objectives, principle tasks and results of the ‘International Workshop on Administering the Marine Environment – the Spatial Dimensions’, held in Malaysia in 2004. Although focusing on Asia and the Pacific region, the results and conclusions drawn from this paper can also be applicable to other marine jurisdictions.