A new collaboration between the PROCARIBE+ Project and Trinidad and Tobago’s Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) has begun with the aim of improving coastal planning in support of the Blue Economy. Under this collaboration,  the IMA will support efforts to develop a collaborative Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) in the Gulf of Paria. The MSP exercise will deliver tangible results in support of Trinidad and Tobago's national "Integrated Coastal Zone Management Policy Framework" that aims to optimize the country’s sustainable use of coastal and marine resources, while enabling growth of its blue economy. This MSP exercise will carry out various activities that promote sustainable blue economic development, including:

• Planning and managing development aimed at avoiding the incidence and severity of natural hazards and to avert the exposure of people, property and economic activities to significant risk from dynamic coastal processes and climate change impacts, such as coastal flooding.
• Implementing an integrated, ecosystem-based management approach in the coastal zone through participatory governance.
• Maintaining and rehabilitating coastal ecosystem goods and services by improving the management of socio-economic activities.