Future scenarios

Three alternative future scenarios were prepared in the scenario work for maritime spatial planning. The intention was to examine the scenarios together as a whole and guide considerations of potential future development processes. The processes of events realised are often combinations of various scenarios or something in between.

The three different scenarios are

• Dancing with big businesses, with emphasis on the increasing role of big businesses
• The Baltic Sea as an oasis of recreation and experiences, with emphasis on prioritisation of environmental issues,
• The Baltic Sea as a breadbasket and strategic playing field, with emphasis on tensions in trade policy and the resulting other tensions between countries.

The scenarios discuss the changes in the operating environment as well as the needs and views of interest groups regarding the future development of the marine area. The assessment concerns, in particular, energy, transport, the environment, fishing and aquaculture, cultural heritage, tourism and recreational use, national defence, marine industries, biotechnology and mineral extraction industries.

Each scenario has a separate site where the results of scenario work are compiled. The site contains the sector-specific overviews, plot descriptions and impacts of the different scenarios as well as the area descriptions for different planning areas.

The scenarios are available here: scenarios

Scenario report: Scenarios_for_maritime_areas_2050

Maritime spatial planning scenario work was completed in autumn 2019. It was implemented in January-September 2019, commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment, in cooperation with eight coastal regions.