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This article contributes to the accelerating development of methods for sustainability assessment (SA) to support maritime spatial planning (MSP), by proposing an ecosystem services based framework for SA. MSP is generally seen as an important approach to promote a more sustainable use of sea space. However, so far all sustainability concerns are not equally well represented in planning practise; in particular, social sustainability aspects such as social justice and sociocultural values related to human-nature connectedness receive less attention. We first explored concepts and principles related to sustainability assessment and social sustainability in the scientific literature. Based on this, we analysed how far the present approaches to assessments in Baltic Sea EU Member States have been extended from environmental concerns to towards broader sustainability concerns so far. Using current best practise in two pioneering countries (UK and Sweden), we illustrated how social sustainability principles could match with applied social impact criteria, and further, how such criteria can inform an ecosystem services-based impact assessment framework. Based on existing frameworks, including the DPSIR (driving forces, pressures, state, impact, response) environmental assessment framework and the ecosystem service cascade, we propose a sustainability impact assessment framework for MSP (MSP-SA) integrating across sustainability dimensions and including assessment of distributional aspects of marine ecosystem service benefits. Finally, we discuss the applicability and further development of the framework in relation to present day sustainability assessment practise in MSP.
•MSP needs sustainability assessments that reach across all three dimensions of sustainability.•Social sustainability is so far under-considered and underdeveloped in coastal and marine spatial planning, both in terms of conceptualisation, data and methods.•Ecosystem services and distributional aspects of their derived benefits (and dis-benefits) can be integrated by linking cascaded ecosystem services analysis with a DPSIR perspective.•This framework can be applied both as analytical tool for ex-ante strategic assessments and to support conceptual structuring of themes and topics among stakeholders.•To be workable, and catch all social sustainability dimensions including equity, it needs to be coupled with a well facilitated participation process.