Regional Environmental Governance and Avenues for the Ecosystem Approach to management in the Baltic Sea Area

Abstract

This thesis explores the avenues for the ecosystem approach to management in the Baltic Sea Region. This region is one of the most contaminated water bodies in the world, although the first Regional Seas Convention was created here and theregion has a long history of cooperation and environmental protection. The current environmental governance arrangements are examined with specific focuson governance structures, cross-sectoral integration and ecological boundaries.The ecosystem approach to management as both a tool and vision of holistic management of natural resources is traced through the evolution of environmental governance, as well as its manifestation in contemporary environmental policies in the region. It is found that the major EU directives, as well as HELCOM polices, promote the ecosystem approach and that its presence has increased inrecent years; it is now the major guiding principle in European marine governance. However, the governance structures impede implementation indifferent ways. The environmental problem areas in the region all require different governance arrangements, thus obstructing a holistic approach. The environmental problems per se also affect each other, necessitating far-reaching sectoral integration and cross-border cooperation, which at present is the major obstacle regarding implementation. The contemporary trends combining solid regionalisation through HELCOM with increased Europeanisation and macro regionalisation by different EU initiatives offer some promise, but the cross sectoral impediments must be resolved if the ecosystem approach is to become apractical approach and not just a policy principle

The Role of the Law of the Sea in Marine Spatial Planning

“…Management and responsibility for the protection of the marine environment in individual areas should be clearly, consistently, flexibly and comprehensively defined. The precautionary principle and the ecosystem approach determine the current framework for spatial planning in marine areas and regulate various human activities in the marine environment with a view to protecting marine and coastal ecosystems and biological diversity (Söderström 2017;Ansong et al 2017;Pyć 2017).…”

Collective action and agency in Baltic Sea marine spatial planning: Transnational policy coordination in the promotion of regional coherence

“…Thus, there is a need to address the question of how to better understand, and potentially enhance, regional policy coordination so as to improve coherence in Baltic Sea planning, while national planning approaches are still being elaborated. The Baltic Sea region has been selected as the empirical case in focus in this article, because of its dense environmental governance structures on the one hand, and the development of diverse national marine spatial planning frameworks on the other [15]. Several governance layers at global, EU, and regional levels contribute to contemporary coordination of national policies, with the aim of promoting key, but diverse, policy objectives such as environmental protection, efficient and sustainable resource use, as well as inclusive and legitimate stakeholder participation mechanisms.…”

“…Multilevel governance is captured by a broad body of literature covering varying issue-areas, but what ties it together is the emphasis placed on interaction between governance levels and the inclusion of non-governmental actors in policy analyses [15,[24][25][26][27]. In the analytical framework elaborated here, the multilevel aspect is primarily used as an analytical vehicle to show how institutions at different governance layers are nested [28].…”