The Ecosystem Approach and Sustainable Development in Baltic Sea Marine Spatial Planning: The Social Pillar, a 'Slow Train Coming

Abstract

While rooted in ambitions to protect the natural environment, marine spatial planning (MSP) has been heralded by a wide range of actors in policy and science alike as a policy process that could enable a balancing of various interests and policy objectives to promote sustainable marine governance and, hence, sustainable development (SD) in marine and coastal areas.1 Spurred by these aspirations, MSP is a growing global phenomenon that is increasingly being applied as a means of sustainable marine governance.2 Integral to this optimism of MSP processes as a way to achieve a more sustainable use of marine resources and territory without transcending environmental thresholds, is the notion that this is best achieved by basing MSP practices on the principles of the so-called Ecosystem(-based) Approach (EA).