Stakeholder Involvement
According to UNESCO and IOC, the most important reason for stakeholder involvement is to help meet multiple social, economic and ecological objectives in MSP, therefore, stakeholder reflection and deliberation on as many possible expectations, opportunities and conflicts is essential to the development of effective policy solutions. In further explicating the process of involving stakeholders, UNESCO and IOC suggest three important questions to consider from the perspective of effectiveness (e.g., leading toward expected results) and efficiency (e.g., producing expected results at least-cost) when organising stakeholder events:
(a) Who should be involved in the MSP process?
(b) When should stakeholders be involved in the MSP process?
(c) How should stakeholders be involved in the MSP process?
In the context of maritime administration, governance structures have so far been extremely fragmented into well-defined policy sectors with little connection and collaboration between sectors. However, increasing interest in the potential economic opportunities surrounding marine space (Blue growth), as well as environmental concerns about the deteriorating marine environments have created the need for better integration of policy sectors and management of shared seas.
Conflicting interests, administratively fragmented sectors, and heterogeneous legal requirements (e.g. EU MSP Directive) makes the integration of policy sectors and active stakeholder involvement in MSP planning difficult. It is, therefore, necessary to provide frameworks for different sectoral groups to collaborate and share knowledge and expertise: “Stakeholders are at the heart of MSP and their expertise and knowledge are crucial to identifying the current and future trends of a specific area and contributing to its development” (European Commission, February 2016).
Discussion during the southwest Baltic Case Stakeholder event in Malmo, Sweden on 27-28 January 2016
The Baltic SCOPE project brings together stakeholders to actively discuss cross-border issues and contribute towards developing effective solutions to cross-border problems. The set-up of stakeholder involvement in Baltic SCOPE is organized around ‘working meetings’ rather than information sharing events (Call application: 20) meaning that these gatherings should produce plausible solutions (identified among the participants) to the pressing cross-sectoral and/or transboundary issues in MSP (ibid.). Working groups involve sectoral experts, relevant authorities and planners from all the countries involved in the Baltic SCOPE project.
Here we try to summarize both the internal developments of stakeholder involvement within national MSP processes, as well as the multilateral processes of stakeholder involvement among the countries involved in the Southwest Baltic case.
National processes of Stakeholder involvement
In parallel with the activities of Baltic SCOPE, each partner country is undertaking consultations with the purpose of feeding into the national MSP process. The approach for stakeholder involvement in each country is rather different. In most cases, only relevant public agencies and authorities have been involved, yet in Poland for instance, a wider span of actors were invited to participate. The setting in which these events take place is also different in each country; in some cases, involvement was limited to interviews, whereas in others, large seminars and workshops were organized. This section describes in more detail the approach used by each partner country in the Southwest Baltic case in national stakeholder involvement processes.
In Poland, stakeholders were brought together in a number of conferences, seminars and workshops to discuss national and cross-border MSP issues. These events, included:
- 1st National Stakeholders Conference organized by the Maritime Office in Szczecin as part of the Baltic Scope Project (51 Participants).
- 16 Local Consultation Seminars organized by PTMEW1 as part of the EEA ‘Public Participation in Maritime Spatial Planning (5-37 Participants per meeting).
- 2 meetings organized by the Maritime Office in Gydnia (372 Participants across 2 meetings).
Ministry representatives and other governmental bodies participated actively in these events.
Event organizers actively encouraged widespread cross-sectoral participation in the events by inviting representatives from civil society groups, science/research bodies and the private sector (see table below). Organizers encouraged participation by highlighting the significance of MSP to individual sectoral needs and stressing the importance of sectoral participation in the development of national plans. Turnout at the meetings was generally high, although some Ministry and Fishery representatives failed to show up due to other commitments. While most sectors were represented at the meetings, it was acknowledged that there was a lack of experts from the fields of environment and nature conservation taking part in the events.
The main objectives of the meetings were to:
- Inform stakeholders about cross-border MSP issues and to provide them with information on ongoing national plans;
- Identify key issues and areas of cross-border spatial conflicts from a Polish perspective;
- Determine what is being planned in neighbouring countries and how this affects Polish interests and the development of national maritime spatial plans;
- Prepare Polish stakeholders to participate in future international discussions.
At the very outset of the meetings, stakeholders were informed about the various national and transnational MSP initiatives and projects taking place. While some meetings had a national MSP focus, others focused on cross-border issues; however, all stakeholders were informed that their inputs would contribute to the development of national MSPs and future discussions that would take place on an international level. Stakeholders expressed their concerns from a national perspective and identified cross-border problems that should be taken into account when developing Polish national plans.
Debate and discussion was constructive and friendly during the meetings. Given the cross-sectoral approach adopted, all sectors were able to voice their views during the discussions, but the fisheries and offshore wind energy sectors were particularly active during the process. The meetings focused on key topics, including offshore wind energy, tourism, shipping and nature and environmental protection. During discussions, potential national and cross-border synergies and conflicts were identified by participants.
A number of central conclusions were drawn from the events with stakeholders highlighting that it was essential to:
- Increase awareness of MSP processes and their main objectives through more local consultations and information events;
- Hold individual bi-lateral negotiations in areas of high conflict;
- Have greater interdisciplinary discussion when making strategic decisions in Polish marine areas;
- Enhance cross-border collaboration and develop pan-regional spatial solutions.
Stakeholders acknowledged the importance of greater cooperation and coordination with other countries in the Baltic Sea Region, with ideas put forward for the development of a common Baltic Energy Grid and maps highlighting the main fishing grounds and activities. There was enough time to organize and plan the meetings, but persuading people to participate was difficult as the events coincided with national elections which led to a change of government and Ministry personnel. Stakeholders were, however, generally enthusiastic about the events and identified the need for greater interdisciplinary discussion of this nature, rather than more of the high-level bi-lateral negotiations that had previously gone before.
Internal stakeholder interviews in Germany were carried out by BSH with relevant authorities via telephone, rather than through common stakeholder events (process is still ongoing). The relevant governmental stakeholders identified included:
- Federal Waterways and Shipping Agency (GDWS)
- Nature Conservation Agency (BfN)
- Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
- Johann Heinrich von Thuenen Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries
- Ministry of Energy, Infrastructure and State Development Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Ministry of Energy, Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Areas (Schleswig-Holstein)
At the national level, BSH is also the competent authority for offshore wind energy and power cables. All stakeholders have been involved in the national MSP consultation process for the EEZ (2005-2009) and will also be involved in the future MSP process.
The interviews were designed to create awareness amongst the stakeholders about MSP processes and the need for transboundary cooperation as well as to get the stakeholders’ input for the development of planning solutions in the project. Interviews were conducted on a sector by sector basis, but dealt with cross-sectoral issues given that both the Ministries and Agencies were dealing with cross-cutting issues. Prior to the interviews, stakeholders were updated on ongoing MSP processes and Baltic-Scope cross-border issues. The interviews focused on:
- Evaluating the main conflicts/synergies for the specific sector with other interests from the sector’s perspective and ideas on how those can be handled.
- Information on conflict areas (spatial dimension).
- Sector’s perspective on the possibility for a better integration of its issues in spatial planning processes.
- Getting input on tasks that should be coordinated on transboundary level for the sector or cross-sectoral.
- Recommendations for planners from the sector’s view.
The data collected from interviews will be used as input for the development of planning solutions and recommendations regarding best-practice for stakeholder involvement in updating national MSPs. The interviews were extremely constructive and provided useful information with regard to outlining conflicting issues and the main challenges facing the development of cross-border and national MSP solutions; however, the process is time consuming.
All stakeholders interviewed had good knowledge of conflicting issues and a good understanding of MSP tasks and challenges. For example, one interview (See sample questionnaire in Appendix 1) with a national fisheries institution highlighted potential conflicts between the fisheries industry and nature conservation (restrictions for fisheries in Natura2000 areas; animal mitigation measures), Offshore Wind Farms (exclusion of fisheries in OWF) and shipping (safety distances). Cooperation was viewed as vital when it comes to conflicts in specific geographical areas, such as the Northstream pipeline crossing German Natura2000 areas, or the planned OWF on Polish border next to an important bird sanctuary in German EEZ. Potential synergies and an area of common interested was in Kriegers Flak area in offshore wind energy, Combined Grid Solution.
Since 2012 SwAM has carried out the internal stakeholder involvement in Sweden in various steps allowing for relevant actors to follow up the process and provide feedback on several occasions. These included:
- Initial information meetings – 4 meetings, 100 participants
- Current status meetings (with the support from the County Administration Boards) – 7 meetings. 200 participants
- MSP- training building on international experiences – 20 participants
- Pre-consultation meeting – 1 meeting, 70 participants
- Guidance document meetings – 2 meetings 80 participants
- Thematic groups meetings – 17 meetings, 75 participants (3-4 meetings each sector)
Some of these meetings aimed at providing information, whereas others aimed at gathering input from the participants and institutional-learning. SwAM, as well as the County administration boards, address MSP on the agenda of other fora such as the Marine and freshwater environment council (16 interest groups and trade organizations) and High-level Coordinating Group for Marine and Aquatic Environment Issues (central authorities and county administration boards). At the same time, SwAM acts as a stakeholder in events organized by other organizations/authorities that have MSP on their agenda.
Participants in the stakeholder meetings were not limited to governmental bodies, but included civil society organizations, universities, as well as local authorities and councils; also, a broader involvement of trade organizations and interest groups occurred in consultations in earlier phases of the MSP process. These were organised in two rounds.. In 2015- March 2016 thematic group meetings were organized separately by sector and involved only the relevant authorities and county administrative bards. Yet there were more sectors involved than those selected for the Baltic SCOPE project, including: defence, energy, fisheries, nature conservation, shipping/ports, regional development (incl. outdoor recreation, tourism businesses and aquaculture).
The thematic working groups (2015- March 2016) have dealt with cross-border issues and Baltic SCOPE, but not in terms of the case study work. Some of the cross-borders interests addressed were fisheries interests outside Swedish borders; environmental concerns (e.g. protection of Harbour porpoises); international shipping routes; energy and communication cables; and wind power installations in border areas.
Some of the transboundary geographical areas selected for detailed work in Baltic SCOPE were addressed, including the Southern Middle Bank, Kriegers Flak and Öresund. They were treated from a national interest perspective, particularly in the sectors of energy and fisheries.
The meetings provided a cross-sectoral perspective with the aim of evidencing possible conflicts and synergies between sectors. The organisers presented all Sweden’s national interests and mapped overlapping interests. For instance, there are interests for wind power development in Natura 2000 sites. Later on, these overlapping interests were categorized as conflicting, competing, or co-existing depending on whether or not different activities/interests can simultaneously use the same space.
In general the atmosphere in the consultations has been constructive. The organised meetings have been successful in gathering information and input which will act as the basis for national analyses and planning processes, as well as provide input to cross-border dialogue. However, not all stakeholders showed interest in participating, particularly NGOs and trade organizations.
Denmark has not of yet begun began their stakeholder thematic meetings including with governmental bodies nor private stakeholders. It is expected that the process will be resumed again soon, but this has been challenging due to shifts in the Danish political-administration system. Before the change in administration and during the preparatory phase of the Baltic Scope project and legislative work for MSP, a wide range of governmental bodies has been involved in the MSP work. In Denmark, only governmental bodies have been involved so far.
The draft MSP Act setting the framework for Danish MSP was submitted for public consultation in December 2015. When the MSP Act is brought into force and the new MSP personnel is in place, which is expected during the spring of 2016, the MSP process, including stakeholder involvement, will resume. Within the Baltic SCOPE project only the above five mentioned governmental bodies are expected to be involved in planning processes.
