Advancing Transboundary Governance in the Baltic and North Sea: Why a Sea-Basin Approach to MSP Matters Now

Advancing transboundary governance in the Baltic and North Sea has never been more urgent. Offshore renewables must scale to meet 2030/2050 targets; marine and coastal protection is expanding with “30×30” ambitions; ports are retooling for new logistics and reconstruction needs; and the security environment has tightened since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In both seas, these agendas converge in limited space with long ecological memory and dense cross-border ties. National plans alone cannot resolve the overlaps. This is where a sea-basin approach to Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) moves from policy idea to practical necessity.

One challenge is a mismatch of scale. Uses, impacts, and risks cross borders, while mandates, data standards, and planning cycles often do not. This creates recurring gaps in coordination (who decides what, and when), evidence (shared baselines and scenarios), and timing (deployment outpacing updates). Ongoing sea-basin analyses and dialogue in the Baltic and North Sea under the NESB project aims to address these gaps by examining existing cooperation groups, mechanisms, platforms, and organisations, and by clarifying how roles and decisions in national MSPs and transboundary cooperation can pull in the same direction rather than work at cross-purposes.

A sea-basin approach means planning at the functional scale of ecosystems, infrastructure corridors, and maritime uses—not only within administrative borders. In practice, it might pose shared strategic questions at basin level (for example, how energy corridors, ecological connectivity, and major shipping routes best co-exist), relies on common evidence and scenarios to compare options and cumulative effects across countries, and sets out clear governance choreography so actions in one jurisdiction trigger timely coordination with neighbours. It could integrate land and sea decisions—linking ports, grid nodes, nature restoration, and community needs to offshore choices—and treats resilience as a criterion, accounting for shocks (geopolitics, cable incidents, supply chains, climate extremes) and long-term ecological limits. This should complement national MSP; done well, it could reduce permitting timelines by aligning requirements upfront and resolving conflicts earlier, and it improves ecological outcomes that no single state can secure alone.

Interestingly, the Baltic Sea2Land project ran multi-level governance processes in several Baltic countries for marine and coastal planning, helping connect strong national examples across borders.

“How do we protect nature and power Europe—maybe through basin-scale alignment and improved delivery from existing mechanisms?”

What is needed now—is it new institutions, or delivery from the cooperation we already have: clear roles, shared evidence, synchronised timelines, and mechanisms that translate agreed principles into timely, lawful, and funded action? The sea-basin approach might provide that frame: match the scale of choices to the scale of the seas, align national efforts where it matters most, and keep resilience and ecological limits in view. Be part of the conversation—co-define sea-basin “good governance” with us and other participants as we compare Baltic and North Sea approaches, review early NESB project insights, and shape practical principles and next steps for future-proof, transboundary MSP.

Join the discussion at the 5th Baltic MSP Forum: Session 7 — Advancing transboundary governance: Baltic and North Sea challenges and prospects, 12 November 2025, 10:45–12:00 (EET). Full programme details and registration is available on the event website www.BalticMSPforum.eu.

The 5th Baltic MSP Forum is organised by the VASAB Secretariat together with the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, as the Lead Partner of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project Baltic Sea2Land, and in cooperation with the partners of the project’s consortium. The 5th Baltic MSP Forum is supported by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme 2021-2027 – through the Subsidy contract for the project #C018 Baltic Sea2Land of Interreg Baltic Sea Region.

Author:
Margarita Vološina, VASAB Secretariat

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