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Assessing the Balance Between Nature and People in the European Seas: Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic

Report

Title: Assessing the Balance Between Nature and People in the European Seas: Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic
Author:
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Publication Date:
Pages:
14
Affiliation
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Technology:
Wind Energy
Language:
English

Document Access

Website:
External Link
Attachment:
Access File

Citation

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) (2022). Assessing the Balance Between Nature and People in the European Seas: Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic. Report by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
@techreport{World-Wide-Fund-for-Nature-WWF-2022-,
author = {World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)},
title = {Assessing the Balance Between Nature and People in the European Seas: Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic},
institution = {World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)},
year = {2022},
month = {mar},
url = {https://www.wwfbaltic.org/newsroom/integrated-ocean-management/assessing-the-balance-between-nature-and-people-in-the-european-seas-maritime-spatial-planning-in-the-baltic},
keywords = {Wind Energy},
}
Export Citation to BibTex
TY - RPRT
TI - Assessing the Balance Between Nature and People in the European Seas: Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic
AU - World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
AB - Taking a sustainable and ecosystem-based approach (EBA) to planning and managing the use of the world’s ocean has long resided at the core of WWF’s mission. This approach is critical for both ensuring biodiversity protection and securing the ecosystem services that people rely upon. Therefore, supporting the development of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) based on an EBA in the European Union (EU) has been a clear choice for WWF organizations globally, and especially in Europe.To this end, the WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme has supported the enactment of the EU MSP Directive 2014/89/EU1 and is working toward an ecosystem-based and sustainable implementation of the Directive in Europe, and the Baltic Sea in particular. WWF believes that adopting an EBA is a vital overarching necessity for managing marine environments and building resilience – and should become a core element of all relevant EU Directives and policies in this field, not least the MSP Directive.Implementing the MSP Directive means that the coastal EU Member States (MS) are obliged to develop national maritime spatial plans and put them into force by March 2021. The plans are to be in line with the MSP Directive. Among other implications, this necessitates that the maritime spatial plans meet the environmental requirements of EU Directives (including the Birds and Habitats Directives, Maritime Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Water Framework Directive, etc.) and policies, and that the plans follow an ecosystem-based management approach.The Baltic Sea is one of the first regional sea basins to conduct a first planning cycle according to the new EU MSP Directive. Each country in the region has a different starting point, and no clearly agreed upon indicators exist yet to monitor and evaluate maritime spatial plans for their “Ecosystem-based Management performance.” WWF has taken the initiative to assess nine maritime spatial plans from around the Baltic Sea, developed by eight different EU countries and one autonomous region, to measure and compare the degree to which they comply with the principles of ecosystem-based management. This assessment report provides a snapshot (from the end of March to the end of November 2021) of the current situation of MSP in the Baltic Sea region concerning how well it aligns with an ecosystem-based approach, with special emphasis on the performance of ecosystem-based planning aspects.
DA - 2022/03//
PY - 2022
SP - 14
PB - World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
UR - https://www.wwfbaltic.org/newsroom/integrated-ocean-management/assessing-the-balance-between-nature-and-people-in-the-european-seas-maritime-spatial-planning-in-the-baltic
LA - English
KW - Wind Energy
ER -
Export Citation to RIS

Abstract

Taking a sustainable and ecosystem-based approach (EBA) to planning and managing the use of the world’s ocean has long resided at the core of WWF’s mission. This approach is critical for both ensuring biodiversity protection and securing the ecosystem services that people rely upon. Therefore, supporting the development of Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) based on an EBA in the European Union (EU) has been a clear choice for WWF organizations globally, and especially in Europe.

To this end, the WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme has supported the enactment of the EU MSP Directive 2014/89/EU1 and is working toward an ecosystem-based and sustainable implementation of the Directive in Europe, and the Baltic Sea in particular. WWF believes that adopting an EBA is a vital overarching necessity for managing marine environments and building resilience – and should become a core element of all relevant EU Directives and policies in this field, not least the MSP Directive.

Implementing the MSP Directive means that the coastal EU Member States (MS) are obliged to develop national maritime spatial plans and put them into force by March 2021. The plans are to be in line with the MSP Directive. Among other implications, this necessitates that the maritime spatial plans meet the environmental requirements of EU Directives (including the Birds and Habitats Directives, Maritime Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Water Framework Directive, etc.) and policies, and that the plans follow an ecosystem-based management approach.

The Baltic Sea is one of the first regional sea basins to conduct a first planning cycle according to the new EU MSP Directive. Each country in the region has a different starting point, and no clearly agreed upon indicators exist yet to monitor and evaluate maritime spatial plans for their “Ecosystem-based Management performance.” WWF has taken the initiative to assess nine maritime spatial plans from around the Baltic Sea, developed by eight different EU countries and one autonomous region, to measure and compare the degree to which they comply with the principles of ecosystem-based management. This assessment report provides a snapshot (from the end of March to the end of November 2021) of the current situation of MSP in the Baltic Sea region concerning how well it aligns with an ecosystem-based approach, with special emphasis on the performance of ecosystem-based planning aspects.