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Renewable energy and sustainable food production are high on the international agenda, as is the prospect of increasing activity northwards to Arctic waters. In this article, we review core elements of the marine governance systems for aquaculture facilities and offshore wind farms in Norway and Scotland. Management of these sectors through strategic planning, marine spatial planning and licensing systems furthers rule of law values such as stability and predictability, making investment less risky. The review illustrates how the governance systems also facilitates flexibility and adaptability, balancing predictability considerations against the need to adapt management to natural and economic changes and innovative technologies, or even effective multi-use. This article discusses how endeavours have been made to strike a balance between predictability and adaptability in these sectors in Norway and Scotland. The study of marine management regimes in the Arctic and northern parts of the Temperate Northern Atlantic, and the values underpinning these regimes, thus provides lessons for the future of the Arctic.

Norway has more than 100,000 km of coastline and associated shore zone. The shore zone is an attractive area for development and infrastructure on the one hand, and recreation and protection of biological diversity on the other. The Norwegian Planning and Building Act contains a general ban on any building in the area between the ordinary high water mark and up to 100 m inland from the shoreline. Exemptions can be granted, however, by the competent municipality through land planning and individual decisions. The importance attached to leaving the shore zone untouched varies from region to region. There are large geographical differences in terms of biodiversity, cultural heritage, landscape, development, development pressure, migration and depopulation, and commercial activity, as well as public access to the coastal areas and the ocean. Since 2011, the entire Norwegian shore zone became subject to guidelines that regulate a geographical differentiation of management and a more severe protection of central areas. This article analyses key aspects of the Norwegian shore zone regulation.

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is defined as an integrated and comprehensive approach to ocean governance. Planning has the potential to ensure ecosystem and biodiversity conservation and establish rational use of marine space, combining activities relating to extraction industries, maritime transport, fisheries and related services and infrastructure. This article looks at what part transnational and national marine spatial planning can play in the Arctic. There is no international convention on marine spatial planning, and there are no requirements under international law that marine plans, as such, should be prescribed by law. MSP-regulation in different jurisdictions is diversified. It is difficult to claim that the international rights and obligations of a state under UNCLOS, CBD or regional instruments such as OSPAR, need to be fulfilled through the instrument of marine spatial planning. The comprehensive EU approach to marine planning is thus of particular interest. The EU members Denmark, Finland and Sweden do not have coastlines bordering the Arctic. EU has no direct influence over the regulation of marine spatial planning in Arctic marine areas through its relationship to Greenland or Norway, states with a close connection to the EU. The status of marine spatial planning in the European Arctic is thus dependent on the policies of Norway, Greenland and Russia. It is an open question whether spatial planning will be used for preventive and precautionary purposes in the Arctic, before the area is overwhelmed by marine activities and spatial conflicts.

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