Photo: EWEA, European Wind Energy Association 1982-2007
What is maritime Spatial Planning?
According to the UNESCO initiative on Maritime Spatial Planning MSP is:
"a public process of analyzing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic, and social objectives that
usually have been specified through a political process.
Characteristics of marine spatial planning include ecosystem-based,
area-based, integrated, adaptive, strategic and participatory".
MSP is
a marine equivalent to terrestrial spatial planning which has been
used to rationally develop e.g. urban areas, but also to protect
environmental and cultural values. However, whereas terrestrial spatial
planning has for centuries been an integrated part of national law in
many European countries, MSP is a novel, emerging form of legality
implemented so far mainly in connection with marine protected areas and
as shipping lanes and traffic separation schemes (TSS).
MSP
also provides the possibility of widening the horizon beyond purely
sectoral policy measures towards an integrated spatial approach within
the Baltic marine areas.
During 2017 and 2018, HELCOM is working to identify Ecologically and Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) in the Baltic Sea area. This process is expected to provide useful information to inform MSP processes as well as other HELCOM processes and assessments.
