Editor’s choice
Editor’s choice
The authors’ analysis highlighted successful cases of combined use of the same marine spaces, which led them to recommendations for better planning and sectoral frameworks.
Marine multifunctionality, understood as the intentional combination of uses in the same marine space, is increasingly promoted in European policy, yet implementation remains uneven. This study asks which combinations of governance instruments have enabled the operationalization of marine multifunctionality in Europe, and under what conditions.
Using systematic review principles, the authors synthesized peer-reviewed evidence published between 2007 and 2025 across European sea basins. Guided by a policy mix perspective, they classified instruments into four families – legal, economic, spatial planning and techno-digital – and examined how they are activated in practice, the functions they perform, and how they are sequenced across governance levels.
The authors further interpret how cases align with three modes of multifunctionality: co-use (shared structures), co-location (spatial proximity), and co-existence (compatible operations). The results show that successful cases assemble policy mixes that first establish spatial and legal clarity, for example through marine spatial planning and coexistence provisions; then address risk through safety zones, liability, and compensation; and finally enable implementation through targeted finance, pilot projects, and monitoring or technical solutions.
The most advanced configurations cluster in the North Sea, where energy-led mixes dominate, while Mediterranean examples more often centre on fisheries-tourism-conservation pathways. Where progress lags, missing functions, weak alignment between plans and permits, or unstable rules are common. These findings lead to three recommendations: package instruments ex ante where possible; run pilots under provisional conditions; and embed monitoring and cumulative-effects assessment in licences so that learning feeds back into marine spatial plans and related sectoral frameworks.
Project / Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue (C2B2) is a collaborative project for a more sustainable blue economy in Sweden.
Journal article / The authors explain how the MISTRA C2B2 programme is working to bring about transformative change in participatory ocean governance in Sweden.
Journal article / This article explores how the Baltic Sea is becoming a ‘built seascape’ and calls for governance to balance innovation, sustainability, and security.
Journal article / This article analyses how companies across critical raw material global value chains in France apply mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence.
