The Regional Baltic Maritime Spatial Planning Roadmap (2013-2020) was created to fulfill the goal of drawing up and applying maritime spatial plans throughout the Baltic Sea region by 2020 which are coherent accross borders and apply the ecosystem approach.
The Roadmap
outlines the anticipated Baltic Sea regional work on MSP to be done by the
HELCOM and VASAB Members – the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries, as well as
Norway, Belarus and the European Commission – including seven steps necessary for reaching the goal:
1. Intergovernmental cooperation on MSP
2. Public participation
3. Ecosystem approach in MSP
4. Information and data for MSP
5. Education for MSP
6. National and Baltic Sea regional frameworks for MSP in place
7. Evaluation and follow-up
The Roadmap
takes into account regional priorities, and for Baltic EU Member States, the
European context, including the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and the
EU Directive on Maritime Spatial Planning.
The Roadmap
has been produced within the HELCOM-VASAB MSP Working Group and has been developed based on expert input and with the support of University of Eastern Finland Law School.
Funding for the Roadmap was provided by the EUSBSR technical assistance funds to
support the work under EUSBSR Horizontal Action Spatial Planning.
The Roadmap was adopted at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting held in Copenhagen on 3 October 2013 and the VASAB Ministerial Conference on 26 September 2014 committed to the implementation of the Roadmap.
The Roadmap has been turned into the HELCOM-VASAB MSP Working Group Work Plan 2014-2016
