Coast4us

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Marine and coastal areas are of major importance for several activities, facing similar environmental and spatial planning challenges in the Baltic Sea Region. The increasing demands on exploiting these areas are creating potential conflicts with other interest such as preservation of natural resources and ecosystem services. It is essential that different values and interests are recognized in the marine and coastal plans to reach long term sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region. The idea of this project is to develop a holistic and inclusive approach in the planning process, through involving stakeholders of different interests and together create sustainable marine and coastal zone plans. New methods and strategies will be developed and evaluated to visualize different values and interests and to improve local participation in order to make them more efficient and sustainable. The main outputs from the project will be sustainable marine and coastal spatial plans for pilot areas in Åland, Latvia, Sweden and Estonia, and new tools and management strategies, guidelines and better cooperation between stakeholders regarding spatial planning. Important outputs are also innovative technical tools, such as GIS tools, web-based platforms, web and mobile applications, developed to support a transparent and inclusive planning process. In addition, these plans could lead to jobs, through entrepreneurs and new networks. The partners in this project have key roles in spatial planning and represent municipalities, regional and national authorities, universities, NGO’s and private companies. The partners complement each other concerning spatial planning, which make the results and outcomes of the project reachable and viable. Coast4us will exchange experience and knowledge with current and earlier projects, and ensure that new tools and management strategies developed in this project are transferred to other areas in the Baltic Sea Region.

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