Towards coherence and cross-border solutions in Baltic Maritime Spatial Plans

A key aim of the EU Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Directive adopted in 2014 is to promote consistency and coherence of maritime spatial plans across marine regions. This requires ongoing cooperation across borders and mechanisms that facilitate the exchange of best practices.

Baltic SCOPE addressed this gap by conducting cross-border consultations for two case areas:

• Southwest Baltic, including parts of waters of Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Poland
• Central Baltic including Latvia, Sweden and Estonia.

A series of meetings were organised among planners and relevant institutional stakeholders to work on pertinent transboundary topics (shipping, energy, fishery and nature protection areas) in a systematic step-by-step approach. This enabled the project to provide real planning solutions for real transboundary issues and a template for dealing with similar issues elsewhere.

Apart from the planning solutions to be integrated into national MSPs, lessons learnt from the two case studies and practical recommendations were be formulated for future cross-border maritime spatial planning. In addition, the project generated a framework for monitoring and evaluation of MSP processes.

The two-year project covered four sectors of maritime activities: fishery, shipping, environment and energy. New methods were developed to gather information and develop planning evidence. The project reached its aim and increased the collaboration between the countries involved. The following reports were produced as outputs of BalticSCOPE:

• Sharing the Baltic Sea: How Six Countries Improved Their Maritime Spatial Planning

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• Recommendations on Maritime Spatial Planning Across Borders

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• Lessons Learned: Experiences from Baltic SCOPE

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• Coherent Cross-border Maritime Spatial Planning for the Southwest Baltic Sea Results from Baltic SCOPE

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• Towards Coherent Cross-Border Maritime Spatial Planning in the Central Baltic Sea

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• The Ecosystem Approach in Maritime Spatial Planning A Checklist Toolbox

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• Mapping maritime activities within the Baltic Sea

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• Evaluation and Monitoring of Transboundary Aspects of Maritime Spatial Planning: a Methodological Guidance

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• Development of a Maritime Spatial Plan: The Latvian Recipe

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Baltic SCOPE project partners

• Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SE) – Lead Partner
• Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (DE)
• Danish Maritime Authority (DK)
• Maritime Office in Szczecin (PL)
• Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (LV)
• Ministry of Finance (EE)
• Finnish Environment Institute (FI)
• Nordregio (SE)
• VASAB Secretariat (BSR)
• HELCOM Secretariat (BSR)