National Marine Plan 2 - planning position statement: consultation - easy read

National Marine Plan 2 Planning Position Statement

The Scottish Government published our first National Marine Plan in 2015. This was our vision for our seas. And how we manage them to meet the needs of nature and people.

Marine planning helps people make decisions about if, where, and how activities take place in our seas.

We are updating the Plan based on how our seas are being used and how they might be used in the future.

This new National Marine Plan will help make sure that we balance the needs of people, businesses, and our environment.

We need to do this to tackle climate change and stop nature loss. Climate change means warmer temperatures, more rain and drier summers. Sea levels are also rising.

Nature loss means that the numbers of wildlife is declining and we are losing the areas of land and water where wildlife live.

We have been working with people across Scotland who use the sea for fishing, offshore wind development, aquaculture, ports and harbours, tourism and other uses.

We are getting ideas on how planning can help to manage the use of our seas.

We have published a Planning Position Statement. This says what we have done, the laws that we follow, and feedback we have received.

The Planning Position Statement also has ideas for future decisions on our seas.

These ideas look at how we might use the sea to reduce the impact from climate change and protect nature. It looks at having strong financial growth.

When the Scottish Government wants to make changes to the rules or make new ones, it has to ask people for their views first. This is called a consultation.

We are having a consultation about the Planning Position Statement. The Statement and the Consultation can be found on the links below:

• National Marine Plan 2: Planning Position Statement
• National Marine Plan 2: Planning Position Statement Consultation