Natureship

Title: Integrated planning and management in the Baltic Sea Region

Summary: In the Central Baltic area, it is important to carry out sustainable and balanced planning of coastal areas including water protection, and conservation of key areas of biodiversity. Various plans have been developed in different sectors, but there has been a lack of interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral and cross-border approaches, and comparison of scenarios are virtually missing.

The Natureship project improves the conditions of the Baltic Sea by developing tools for integrated planning and the management of coastal areas. To introduce multi-purpose planning, the project identifies best practices in water protection and enhancement of biodiversity and novel management methods. In addition, three integrated coastal plans are made which give land use recommendations for selected coastlines and key areas in Estonia, Finland and Sweden.

Finally, the project compares the different approaches to achieve a Central Baltic synthesis of best possible integrated participatory planning and valuation of ecosystem services. The results are shared through publications and seminars for both a wider audience and key experts.

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