New EU Directive anticipated for March 2013

Baltic Sea initiative pioneers planning of Swedish and Finnish seas

21 February 2013 (HELCOM Information Services) – For the first time, the future of an offshore sea area has been planned comprehensively in Sweden and Finland, with good results. This was done in the Plan Bothnia pilot initiative focusing on the Bothnian Sea, north of Åland.

Plan Bothnia has considered the future of a wide variety of issues like maritime traffic, fisheries, wind power, economy, cultural heritage as well as nature protection and marine ecosystems together, instead of one at a time. A pioneering feature is that the planning has been carried out jointly by a large number of participants and institutions from both countries.

The initiative, coordinated by HELCOM, has today released its key publication, Planning the Bothnian Sea (Plan Bothnia 2013), now available free in electronic format. The release is done in anticipation of a new legislative proposal on planning at sea by the EU Commission awaited for March 2013, along with the adoption of new Swedish legislation later this year. With the initiative, the two countries have tested in advance approaches which will likely be called for by such new legislation.

The publication describes the joint Swedish-Finnish Plan Bothnia pilot plan for the Bothnian Sea and includes analyses of the different characteristics, uses and future developments in the region. A separate poster map doubles as a summary.

Planning the Bothnian Sea gives a practical example that the joint planning of shared sea areas is possible, even if the legally binding decisions are done at the national level. The publication also highlights the fact that joint forms of planning at sea are necessary due to the interconnectedness of marine ecosystems; the international nature of marine activities; and the scale of the offshore wind power developments.

The publication demonstrates that nearly all shallow offshore areas or banks in the Bothnian Sea are targeted for wind power installations. Offshore banks and shallow areas have high ecological values as underwater environments and they also support a rich stock of herring. The mining activities in the northern parts of Sweden and Finland is growing which can also increase the ship traffic in the region, though this may be set off by the opening of the northeast passage in the Arctic ocean.

Further, Planning the Bothnian Sea illustrates that the needed democratic anchoring of offshore plans requires special attention to the presentation of the underlying information. This will enable politicians and citizens to form opinions about the offshore areas and their planning.

The print version of Planning the Bothnian Sea, released in 2012, was selected “Book of the Year” and won the price of the best publication in the Design and Print Awards 2012 competition in Finland.

The importance of the sea as a source of identity and cultural inspiration is also underlined. These factors should not be forgotten in the future-oriented planning exercises, commonly focusing only on scientific, technical and economic aspects.

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Background

The Plan Bothnia project was carried out 2010-2012 and involved over fifty people from Finland and Sweden representing more than twenty different national ministries and institutions. A partnership of seven institutions, led by HELCOM, produced the background material and organized five dedicated planning meetings and seven other interaction events. To date, it is one of the most comprehensive of such trans-boundary Maritime Spatial Planning pilots carried out in the world.

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organisation of all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU, working to protect the marine environment from all sources of pollution. HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area", known as the Helsinki Convention. Since 2010, HELCOM has led a regional intergovernmental working group on Maritime Spatial Planning jointly with VASAB, another Baltic-wide organisation.

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For more information, please contact:

Mr. Sten Jerdenius

Ministry of the Environment, Sweden

Phone: +46 840 53910

E-mail: sten.jerdenius@environment.ministry.se

Ms. Tiina Tihlman

Ministry of the Environment, Finland

Phone: +358 503 041548

E-mail: tiina.tihlman@ymparisto.fi

Mr. Hermanni Backer

HELCOM Secretariat (Project Coordinator)

Phone: +358 468 509199

E-mail: hermanni.backer@helcom.fi