ICZM Plans for Sustaining Coastal and Marine Human-ecological Networks in the Baltic Region

SustainBaltic developed four ICZM case plans from Estonia (2) and Finland (2), which were based on current spatial data on ecological, land use and human activities. The novelty of the approach of SustainBaltic centered on close co-working in order to define the most crucial ICZM planning criteria to be utilised and implemented further in the Central Baltic Programme area.

Approach of the project

The hallmarks of ICZM according to the 2002/413/EC Recommendation are the integration across sectors and levels of governance, as well as a participatory and knowledge-based approach.

Therefore, the common territorial challenge in SustainBaltic was how to enhance the current coastal and marine networks so that it can the sustainable use of the sea-land interface directed by ICZM can be ensured.

In the project, four Integrated Coastal Zone Management plans (ICZM) have been produced based on the ecological values, land use and the current human activities in the planning area. A comprehensive spatial analysis was conducted during the early phases of the project to create a general overview about the ecological, social and economical features of the project area. In addition to data collection and description, the potential conflicts between environmental values and current land use have been assessed using sophisticated statistical methods (e.g. Zonation). The case areas (two from Finland and two from Estonia), in which ICZM plans were prepared, have been chosen based on the results of the GIS analysis.

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Objectives and results

The objective of the project was to integrate current human activities, land use and nature and environmental management data by GIS derive tools. After data integration, the four cases from Estonia and Finland were selected:

Finnish ICZM cases locate in the Region of Satakunta being Enhancing sustainable tourism in Satakunta coastal zone and ecosystem services of the Kokemäenjoki watershed and its marine counterpart.

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The Estonian ICZM cases locate along the coasts of Lääne-Viru and Läänemaa. Their themes are relating to the multi-functionality of the coastal use between the recreation, tourism, other economic development e.g. agriculture or wind farming and housing.

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The preparations of ICZM case drafts include in addition to the preparation, the testing phase where the drafts compared technically to the regional plans that currently in the use and the ICZM drafts presented to the public.
Thereafter, the public map-based web applications launched for assessing the ICZM drafts and working group meetings arranged for the evaluation of the drafts as well.
Based on the reflections, the planners modified ICZM drafts in order to finalize them to be e-published and presented to the end-users, i.e. stakeholders and general public in November, 2018.
The final, updated ICZM plans (spatial development plans) based on all evaluations and stakeholder assessments from autumn 2018 can be found here:

For Satakunta

For Lääne-Viru

For Kokemäenjoki River

For Läänemaa

Project partners

• Lead: Department of Geography and Geology in the University on Turku
• Finnish Environmental Institute
• Regional Council of Satakunta, FI
• Estonian University of Applied Sciences (Eesti Maaülikool)
• University of Tallinn (Tallinna Ülikool), EE
• County Government of Lääne-Viru (Lääne-Viru Maavalitsus), EE