BALANCE
01/07/2005 - 01/12/2007
BALANCE
Baltic Sea Management - Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Ecosystem through Spatial Planning.
The objective is the development of informed marine management tools for the Baltic Sea based on spatial planning and cross-sectoral and transnational co-operation.
List of Partners
Denmark :
- Danish Forest and Nature Agency,
- Marine and Habitats Division,
- DHI - Water and Environment,
- Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland,
- National Environmental Research Institute,
- Department of Marine Ecology,
- Danish Institute for Fisheries Research,
- Department of Sea Fisheries, WWF Denmark.
Estonia:
- Estonian Marine Institute,
- University of Tartu.
Finland:
- Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Service,
- Finnish Environment Institute,
- Geological Survey of Finland,
- WWF Finland.
Germany:
Latvia:
- Institute of Aquatic Ecology,
- University of Latvia.
Lithuania:
- Coastal Research and Planning Institute.
Sweden:
- Swedish Environmental Protection Agency,
- National Board of Fisheries,
- Geological Survey of Sweden,
- WWF Sweden,
- County Administrative Board of Stockholm,
- Department of Marine Ecology,
- Gothenburg University.
Sub-contractors:
- Leibniz-Institute of Marine Sciences,
- Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute,
- The Geological Survey of Norway,
- The Norwegian Instute for Water Research,
- Polish Sea Fisheries Institute,
- University of California.
Work packages
- Data management
- Marine landscapes and habitats
- Blue corridors and Natura 2000
- Marine spatial planning
- Dissemination
Tasks
WP1
Action 1.1. Development of standards and protocols for intercalibration of sectoral data (biology, geology, oceanography).
Action 1.2. Setting up a metadatabase portal.
WP2
Action 2.1. Identification of Baltic marine landscapes and habitat distribution for use in marine spatial planning and nature conservation.
WP3
Action 3.1. Development of the "blue corridor" concept.
Action 3.2Evaluation of the representativity of the Natura 2000 network and other marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Baltic Sea.
WP4
Action 4.1. Development of a broad area management template with zoning of large marine areas.
WP5
Action 5.1. To enhance the public awareness of the Baltic Sea marine environment and its natural resources through dissemination of the BALANCE results.
Useful outputs for MAIA
BALANCE Interim Report no. 28: GIS tools for marine spatial planning in the Baltic Sea
- Provides useful examples of how GIS tools can be usedin marine spatial planning, including the incorporation of socio-economical factors; also demonstrates how the tools can also be used for monitoring management performance by looking at temporal change of features.
BALANCE Interim Report no. 22: E-participation as tool in planning processes
- Case study 3 in this report gives an example of how e-participation of stakeholders on a web page was used in the development of a draft zoning plan for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authority.
Lessons learned :
- E-participation can be a useful tool in transboundary planning processes : with the provision of different language options, all affected people have the same opportunity to be involved ;
- E-participation is an additional tool and should not replace other, more personal participation techniques ;
- The use and success of e-participation in offshore areas is limited, but applicable and useful in coastal areas ;
- The establishment of e-participation needs more effort, especially the production of tailored information material and visualisation techniques, but is potentially more suitable for reflecting complex spatial planning issues than other tools ;
- Case studies show that e-participation tools result in more accurate and site-specific submissions ;
- After the first investment in GIS, which is mostly an investment in setting up the application and acquiring the appropriate data sets, government authorities can expect substantial reduction of staff workload, since citizens are able to retrieve maps and related information without staff assistance.
BALANCE Interim Report no. 16: The stakeholder - nature conservation´s best friend or it´s worst enemy
- Provides useful guidelines for how to organise stakeholder engagement in management and planning.
BALANCE Interim Report no. 8: BALANCE Stakeholder Communication Guide
- Useful guidance on how to communicate with stakeholders in relation to marine management : provides a communication toolkit and some examples from marine management processes in which communication tools were applied.
http://balance-eu.org/publications/index.html
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