Coastal governance and planning agreements for integrated management of marine protected areas in UE Coasting project

The paper starts within the framework of the Interreg MED project Coasting, Coastal Integrated Governance for Sustainable Tourism. Coasting aims at increasing the sustainability of coastal tourism in the UE Med Countries, implementing approaches based on governance among public and private actors involved in the management of tourism development processes. The marine protected areas (MPA) in coastal areas, before having any tourist objectives, are a key environmental element to be protected and enhanced. In this paper, starting from the Contrat de baie of Marseille (CdB)- which is the key reference in the overall Coasting approach to integrated management of coastal areas -, the MPA within the Parc national des Calanques is investigated. Both the CdB and the Parc carry out actions with results on the MPA management. The CdB action aims at improving water quality both on the terrestrial and marine contexts, from an ecological point of view. Otherwise, the Parc action is more directly related to uses regulation. As a result, the MPA is the object of the joint action of the two actors in terms of integrated management within the framework of wider governance that interests the whole area of the Communauté Urbaine of Marseille. In addition, to examine the multilevel governance approach of the CdB, and its specific related tools in terms of planning agreements (Contrat de rivière in France, and River Contracts in Italy), the paper investigates the relation between the CdB and the management actions implemented in the MPA of the Parc national des Calanques.