As a project partner in PartiSEApate, Region Skåne has contracted with WMU to assist in developing models on how multi‐level governance can be realized in Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) within the Pomeranian Bight (SE, DE, PL). Through VASAB (Vision and Strategies around the Baltic Sea) with the Maritime Institute Gdansk as the leading partner, 9 project partners will cooperate to test and develop instruments for multi‐level governance, leading to recommendations. With expanding activities,
such as offshore wind energy parks and growing shipping traffic, an increasing number of users are competing for a share of limited space in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). The maritime economy is one of the fastest growing sectors in Europe and has led to MSP as a new tool for coordinating spatial use and balancing of interests in the sea. Because MSP is a new policy instrument, relatively little practical experience and samples exist on how to satisfy requirements, such as land‐sea integration, transnational consultation, ecosystem based approach, and stakeholder participation, all of which play a role in a sustainable MSP. The objective of PartiSEApate is to provide an overview on MSP structures across the BSR, to develop a pan‐Baltic approach, and to develop a concept for an MSP institutional and governance model for transnational cooperation, agreements, and data exchange. The results from PartiSEApate will form the basis for decisions to be made at the VASAB ministerial conference to be held in Tallinn in December 2014.
