Round table and Business Game on Marine Spatial Planning during BSD 2018

 

 

 

Round table on «Maritime Spatial Planning as a tool to preserve marine environment» took place during XIX International Environmental Forum  “Baltic Sea Day” in St. Petersburg, March 22 -23, 2018.

The goal with the round table was promotion of transboundary dialogue and Ecosystem Components in MSP.

The first session was dedicated to the transboundary principles of MSP and national features of implementation – Towards the MSPs coherent across borders.

The round table was opened by presentation of HELCOM roadmap on MSP in the BS region and its implementation progress.

Regional activities on MSP in the Baltic Sea region was presented by Tālis Linkaits, VASAB

Andrei Lappo, ErmakNW made an introduction into situation with MSP in Russia with presentation State of the MSP in BSR and further plans

Situation with MSP of Swedish waters introduced Tomas Andersson, Senior Analyst from SWAM.

Tiina Tihlman from the Ministry of the Environment of Finland presented thier experience in transboundary context of implementation. MSP dialog in the Gulf of Finland, Estonia/Finland/Russia.

The session was closed by Prof. Jana Blinovskaya from The Far-Eastern Federal University, Russia who made presentation on MSP in the interfaced Barents and Baltic’s waters: implementation of the commitments, problems and perspectives.

Second session was focused on strengthening the ecosystem based approach in MSP.

Ecosystem components for MSP was introduced by Kirsi Kostamo from Finnish Environment Institute, Marine research center.

Prof. Jacek Zaucha from Maritime Institute presented “MSP of Polish waters – national and transboundary consultations”.

MSP for a Sustainable Blue Economy was introdused by Metta Wiese from WWF Sweden.

Interregional cooperation session was the third one which closed the first day of the Forum.

Dr. Mustafa Yucel from the Middle East Technical University, Institute of Marine Sciences in Turkey made a presentation on MSP in None-EU Part of the Black Sea.

On March 23, a business game on practical application of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) continued the MSP session during BSD. Participants included representatives from Russia, Sweden and Finland.
The aim of the game was to work out a model of participation in the compilation of a marine plan for a hypothetical water and coastal areas.
Each team, according to the rules, had its own development goals for the region. The «red» team has an economic goal, the «blue» team has a social team, and the «green» team has an environmental goal. Inside the team, each participant also had a role. For example: a planner, a sailor, a fisherman, a power engineer, a representative of the municipal government, a tourist, etc. Also, journalists and representatives of neighboring countries had supervisory functions.
The business game on MSP was very interesting and informative. The game allowed all participants to feel that everyone’s voice is important in planning, and also that in the inevitable conflict of interests it is necessary to find a compromise.
Winners — the «green» team — were awarded memorable diplomas.
Despite the fact that the legislation on the implementation of MSP in Russia is still «marking time», it is pleasant that the representative of regional authorities took active part in this game. (N. Kuzmin)
According to the Road Map of MSP which was established within the HELCOM-WASAB working group, by 2020, marine spatial plans coherent across borders and based on the  ecosystem approach should be implemented in the whole Baltic region.
Here is link to the short movie about this event.