From MARine Ecosystem Accounting to integrated governance for sustainable planning of marine and coastal areas

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Date of latest update: 2024-03-26

Description

Description (EN):

The ecosystem-based approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes their conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. EBA is a cornerstone of many EU directives but to date there is no clear guidance on how to implement it in practice for instance, in maritime spatial planning processes. Ecosystems are linked to human well-being through the flow of ecosystem services, i.e., the benefits the marine environment and its resources deliver to society. These include, for instance, the production of economically exploitable biomasses (e.g. fish) but also regulating services that sustain the environment, such as climate and seawater quality. A weak integration of ecology and economy results in a disconnection of economic analysis from the functioning of ecosystems. Current valuation approaches hardly capture the cumulative impact of different human activities on ecosystem services, thereby failing in the achievement of sustainable use of natural resources. Therefore, novel assessment methodologies, which are more adequate to reflect the complexity of natural and human systems interactions, are needed to further develop joint and integrated governance among MSP, MSFD and other integral regional strategies concerning the Baltic Sea. The main result of the MAREA will be (1) the realisation of a system of accounting of marine environment and the benefits these deliver, also in terms of regulating services for climate and ecosystems’ sustainability, and (2) a connected model of integrated sustainable governance for use of natural resources and marine space. A key aspect of the project is the involvement of key stakeholders in the Central Baltic region. The ecosystem accounting models as well as the Sustainability Compass are generated and updated through participatory learning including key stakeholders: authorities responsible for MSP and marine management planning, environmental experts and general public.

Achievements (EN):

MAREA developed a framework for mapping of marine ecosystem services. The MAREA project developed a framework for mapping of marine ecosystem services. Ecosystem services were modelled using a set of methodologies depending on the data availability and the service in question. Ecosystem accounting models were further developed and applied in the project. This was a response to the need to develop ecosystem accounting both globally and on Europe’s level. Ecosystem accounting integrates economic sectors to the benefits that ecosystems provide. A sustainability compass was developed during the project. It is a method and a tool for bottom-up social learning on sustainable practices in pursuit of prosperity and human well-being within ecosystems boundaries. The compass is targeted to companies operating in marine areas. The project also developed subsections of the Geoportal (PlanWise4Blue): cumulative impact assessment tool, Sustainability compass tool and tools for customized socio-economic models. These are tailored to the Baltic Sea region's key actors/stakeholders. The geospatial portal is a user-friendly communication tool for decision-makers, allowing participation and continuous update of knowledge, data and analyses. The portal provides an indication of the best practices for improvement and alternative scenarios in support of joint decision-making.

Website: http://centralbaltic.eu/

Expected Results (EN): R2.2. Share of marine and coastal areas with improved management

Expected Outputs (EN):

The main results of the project are: 1) A framework for describing the marine ecosystem services produced in a specific area. 2) A model and a framework combining the ecosystem services concept with marine ecosystem accounting in an operationally relevant spatial scale. 3) Development of Sustainability Compass in marine context to study the realisation of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the pilot cases. 4) Development of geospatial tool to enable easy access to integrated data and analyses. All of the main results provide a possibility to increase further the share of coastal and marine areas with improved management by providing an opportunity for more integrated assessment of nature capital and the consequences of its use and by developing tools to monitor the impacts of management decisions on the marine environment.

Thematic information

Coastal management and maritime issues Regional planning and development

Specific Objective: Sustainably planned and managed marine and coastal areas

Thematic Objective: (06) preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency by:

Investment Priority: (06c) Conserving, protecting, promoting and developing natural and cultural heritage

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: Suomen ympäristökeskus

Department: Marine Research Centre

Address: Latokartanonkaari 11, 790 Helsinki, Finland

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.syke.fi

Total budget: EUR 473 434.50

ERDF budget: EUR 355 075.88

Baltijas Vides Forums

Name: Baltijas Vides Forums

Address: Antonijas 3-8, LV-1010 Riga, Latvia

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.bef.lv

Total budget: EUR 219 826.95

ERDF budget: EUR 186 852.91

Pellervon taloustutkimus PTT

Name: Pellervon taloustutkimus PTT

Address: Eerikinkatu 28, 180 Helsinki, Finland

Legal status: private

Website (not verified): http://www.ptt.fi

Total budget: EUR 383 090.00

ERDF budget: EUR 287 317.50

Tartu Ülikool

Name: Tartu Ülikool

Department: Estonian Marine Institute

Address: Ülikooli 18, 50090 Tartu, Estonia

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.ut.ee

Total budget: EUR 439 250.00

ERDF budget: EUR 373 362.50

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Baltic Environmental Forum Latvia

From MARine Ecosystem Accounting to integrated governance for sustainable planning of marine and coastal areas

Partners and Projects info

Pellervo Economic Research PTT

From MARine Ecosystem Accounting to integrated governance for sustainable planning of marine and coastal areas

Partners and Projects info

University of Tartu

From MARine Ecosystem Accounting to integrated governance for sustainable planning of marine and coastal areas

Partners and Projects info

Finnish Environment Institute

From MARine Ecosystem Accounting to integrated governance for sustainable planning of marine and coastal areas

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): From MARine Ecosystem Accounting to integrated governance for sustainable planning of marine and coastal areas

Project acronym: MAREA

Project start date: 2020-06-01

Project end date: 2022-12-31

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 515 601.45

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 202 608.78

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 1 202 608.78.

Documents

Documents on this project are listed below, and organised by category. Please note field "Data source", attached to each document. Keep.eu users are free to use these documents as long as they mention the data source and keep.eu.

Studies / surveys

Output O.T1.1 High-resolution maps on the intensity and extent of ecosystem services supply in the transnational pilot area

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: http://marea.balticseaportal.net/

Publication date: 2023-08-28

Document date: 2022-12-31

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Output O.T2.1.1 Conceptual model of Natural Capital Accounting

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: http://marea.balticseaportal.net/

Publication date: 2023-08-28

Document date: 2022-03-16

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Output O.T2.2.1 Regional tools for assessing feed-backs and trade-offs between marine ecosystem and anthropocentric systems - Part 1- User guide for the social-economic models implemented in the geoportal

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: http://marea.balticseaportal.net/

Publication date: 2023-08-28

Document date: 2022-11-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Output O.T2.2.2 Regional tools for assessing feed-backs and trade-offs between marine ecosystem and anthropocentric systems - Part 2- Explore the relations between cultural services and environmental condition

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: http://marea.balticseaportal.net/

Publication date: 2023-08-28

Document date: 2022-11-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Videos / films

Baltic sea ecosystem services for our benefit - MAREA project video animation

Attachment type: link

Type of document: Video / film

Data source: http://marea.balticseaportal.net/

Publication date: 2023-08-28

Document date: 2022-11-01

Languages: en

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG V-A Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Sweden (Central Baltic)

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-11-11

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

137 / 137 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

663 / 663 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://centralbaltic.eu/), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-11-08, 2023-01-12 and 2024-03-08.

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From MARine Ecosystem Accounting to integrated governance for sustainable planning of marine and coastal areas

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

Partners map

Summary

Documents

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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