A Baltic Sea level Maritime Spatial Planning cooperation supports the European Green Deal at sea
Maritime spatial planners and other marine experts from the Baltic Sea region met in Riga in September to discuss new maritime spatial planning recommendations regarding the implementation of the European Green Deal at sea. The relevance and urgency of implementing the recommendations created by the MSP-GREEN project were analysed from a Baltic Sea perspective and the next steps for their implementation were identified. International cooperation is needed to manage the overall development picture in the Baltic Sea and to find effective solutions to shared challenges.
The challenges our seas are currently facing require not only national efforts but also a broader approach. In the Baltic Sea region, international cooperation on maritime spatial planning is carried out through HELCOM-VASAB working groups and joint projects. In the face of the ambitious targets set by the Green Deal, the dialogue between countries must be maintained and further developed.
New maritime actors and the Baltic Sea’s fragile ecosystem underline the need for a shared vision
The new recommendations developed in the MSP-GREEN project aim to support maritime spatial planning’s capacity to consider and implement the objectives of the European Green Deal. Europe’s seas have varying characteristics and therefore the applicability of the recommendations in different contexts requires attention. In Riga, a workshop was organized to assess the applicability, relevance and urgency of the recommendations from the perspective of our shared sea. The recommendations were prioritised based on experts’ views.
The workshop discussions highlighted the need for cooperation and a holistic view of the Baltic Sea that takes into account both the marine environment and human activities across national borders. A shared vision is needed to protect the fragile ecosystem of the Baltic Sea and to create a managed development picture to promote the goals set by the Green Deal. Countries around the Baltic are grappling with similar challenges, such as placing offshore wind energy, protecting marine ecosystems and safeguarding the future of traditional maritime industries. A first step that was recognized towards a shared vision is to improve coherence between countries’ maritime spatial plans, but the discussions also highlighted a longer-term goal of developing a strategic maritime spatial plan for the whole Baltic Sea in international cooperation.
“The discussion at the Riga workshop was genuinely enthusiastic and varied, as well as solution-oriented, although the subject matter was, once again, challenging to say the least. Challenging because it was difficult to prioritise between the many important recommendations”, commented Timo Juvonen, maritime spatial planner for the Regional Council of Southwest Finland.
“The importance of nature conservation in marine and coastal areas was at the top of the agenda in our group. In particular, identification of value areas and the interconnections between them received unanimous support to be chosen as the most important recommendation”, Juvonen sums up the discussion in his group, which focused on nature issues. The promotion of transboundary blue-green networks and conservation networks was also highlighted in the overall discussions at the workshop. The recommendations on biodiversity and ecosystem protection are based on the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the Restoration Law, which bind the majority of the Baltic Sea countries.
The development of marine energy production is a topic of interest across the Baltic Sea
Offshore wind energy development is progressing rapidly across the Baltic Sea. The challenges posed by the expansion of offshore energy production, both in coordinating the needs of the sectors and in minimising adverse impacts on the marine environment, were highlighted in the discussion. Limited marine space requires coordination of activities between sectors, and the impacts of the changing operating environment are particularly significant for fisheries. Proactive and innovative marine spatial planning by the fishing industry is a prerequisite for securing sustainable marine food production. Identifying and designing value chains and networks, and supporting the vibrancy of coastal communities in general were also seen as important to support the fisheries sector. The MSP-GREEN and Baltic Sea2Land projects have been working nationally in Finland on the coordination of offshore wind energy and fisheries during 2023 and 2024. You can read more about the work here.
In a changing environment, the importance of stakeholder engagement and participation in maritime spatial planning is also growing, both for traditional and new marine stakeholders. The Green Deal sets a framework for marine development and this needs to be communicated openly and clearly, as well as the role of MSP in implementing the objectives of the Green Deal. Finland’s maritime spatial planning process is built around interaction; the second planning round’s vision phase will start in late 2024, where a shared vision for the future of the marine areas will be built together with stakeholders.
Finnish maritime spatial planning’s participation in international projects brings tools to the national process
New recommendations for implementing the European Green Deal through maritime spatial planning are aimed at planners, authorities and decision-makers. The recommendations were developed in international cooperation with representatives from different European sea areas and discussed during the spring in expert groups and at an EU-level workshop in Svendborg, Denmark. The recommendations are the result of extensive work carried out by the project. You can read more about it here.
The next step will be to apply the recommendations to the Finnish context. “Discussions at the Riga workshop highlighted the importance of cooperation at the Baltic Sea level in promoting a sustainable green transition in Finland’s sea areas as well. Active participation in international cooperation contributes to our ability to perceive the overall impact of planning on the Baltic Sea and to adapt to the new targets”, says Laura Pietilä, project planner in the MSP-GREEN project.
“The recommendations still need to be reviewed with a special focus on the Finnish maritime spatial planning perspective and to identify the most relevant tools for our work”, Pietilä continues.
The recommendations are divided into six themes identified in the programme and cross-cutting recommendations on how to implement the objectives of the Green Deal at sea. You can find out more about the recommendations on the MSP-GREEN website.
The MSP-GREEN project is funded by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund. The project will run from November 2022 to October 2024.
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