The report provides a framework for ensuring that marine spatial planning (MSP) does not worsen poverty and gender inequality in developing countries, and that potentially marginalised groups are appropriately considered and engaged in the MSP process.

This report provides guidelines for the steps of a more inclusive MSP process.

The findings indicate that a scorecard can be used to guide the social sustainability of the MSP process. The criteria in the scorecard include:

To protect the oceans' natural capital and promote sustainable economic growth, the world needs to move beyond a business-as-usual relationship with its marine resources. For increasing numbers of countries, the solution is the "Blue Economy" approach. It allocates ocean space across traditional sectors such as fisheries and new ones such as offshore wind farms, intending to protect resources and benefit current and future generations.

With increasing scarcity and spatial dispersion of tree resources, Uganda's forest sector – similarly to several other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – has experienced a shift from the large-scale concessionary model historically used to access and harvest forests, to more
versatile models involving smaller-scale operators. The timber they produce is sold not only locally in producer countries but also across borders and beyond. Yet small-scale operators largely work outside established regulatory frameworks and as such remain invisible to national and international