Towards Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) – A case on the ICZM preparation process by CB354 SustainBaltic project

The overall object of SustainBaltic project funded by EU Interreg Central Baltic Programme (CB) is to produce four integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) case plans: two from Finland and two from Estonia during the project period 2016-2018. The ultimate reason to initiate the project was to take care of the coastal human-ecological networks in the Central Baltic area by increasing the co-planning and co-evaluation which is parallel to the objectives of the EU's strategic guiding of the Recommendation of the European Parliament concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Europe (2002/413/EC).

Improved cross-border regional planning will lead towards the enhancement of natural and human resources in the CB area in order to ensure that those networks will be preserved and further developed. Moreover, SustainBaltic links to the Directive 2014/89/EU of Maritime Spatial Planning and to the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal management 2013/0074 (COD). It also helps in implementation of other EU policies for marine and coastal areas including the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Water Framework Directive, the Natura and Habitats Directives and the Biodiversity Strategy. The ICZM planning of the project are geographically scoped in the Regions of the Southwestern Finland and Northern Estonia with their coastal waters.

In the implementation phase, first, the integration of large multidisciplinary databases are to be utilized for the spatial analysis and selection of the case areas in the project area. Secondly, the preparation of ICZM plans and assessment on the ICZM drafts are to be made together with the steering group representatives as end-users from Estonian and Finnish planning authorities, representatives of environmental and nature protection boards among the others, outside the current partnership. After the modifications by the end-users, the ICZM plans are presented public by press releases, public events with discussions so that the comments from public can be taken notice and necessary checking for ICZM plans can be again carried out.

Thereafter, the modifications are accepted, the ICZM case plans are ready to be published. Also, the methodological and co-working procedures with their public interim results and learning experiences are compiled to be downloaded from the project website thorough and beyond the project life span.