Baltic Sea Region Interreg III A Neighbourhood Programme

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• Baltic Sea Region Interreg III A Neighbourhood
  Programme
• LIVONIA MARITIMA
• PROJECT

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• Common Principles on Environment Protection and
  Spatial Planning in Coastal Areas
• Ligita Laipeniece
• PWG Consultant
• February 22, 2007

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Content of the presentation

• Summary of the Planning and Environment Workgroup
  work
• Common Principles on Environment Protection and
  Spatial Planning in Coastal Areas
• Suggestions

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Project Livonia Maritima - Riga Gulf Joint
Co-operation Region

• WP3 - Sustainable development of coastal areas of
  the Gulf of Riga
• elaboration of common principles for sustainable
  development of coastal areas around the Gulf of
  Riga. Knowledge sharing among project partners
  concerning environment management and protection
  and spatial planning of coastal areas.

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PWG Planning Workgroup

• Representatives from 7 partners
• Parnu Town Government
• Parnu County Government
• Kuressaare Town Government
• Saaremaa County Government
• Talsi District Council
• Tukums District Council
• Limbazi District Council

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PWG Planning Workgroup

• 3 meetings
• November 30, 2006 - Parnu
• January 26, 2007 Limbazi District
• February 21, 2007 - Riga

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PWG Planning Workgroup

• Overall results
• more broad understanding about environment
  protection and spatial planning of coastal areas
  among planning specialist of the region
• preconditions for further sustainable
  development of coastal areas of Gulf of Riga as
  whole will be created
• public discussion about environmental issues on
  coastal areas will be more active

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PWG Planning Workgroup

• Outputs
• Situation Analyze of Environment Protection and
  Spatial Planning
• Common Principles on Environment Protection and
  Spatial Planning of Coastal Areas

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PWG Planning Workgroup

• Significant parts of the Situation Analysis are
  the following
• Current situation of water resources and quality
• Mineral resources
• Flora and fauna (forest, biodiversity) state of
  environmental in the region
• Environmental technical infrastructure
• Coastal planning, land use

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Common Principles on Environment Protection and
Spatial Planning of Coastal Areas

• Significant parts of the Common Principles
  document are
• Nature Values of the Region Livonia Maritima
• Principles of Environment Protection
• Principles of Spatial Planning
• Other relevant principles

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Nature Values of the Region Livonia Maritima

• Baltic Sea - one of the largest brackish-water
  bodies on in the world
• rivers and lakes
• resources of mineral waters
• various mineral resources - sand, gravel, clay
  and dolomite, peat and also curative mud
• abundance with forests
• high ecosystem diversity
• well developed net of specially protected nature
  areas
• diverse and not very changed landscapes
• great variety of shoreline types
• wind

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Principles of Environment Protection

• Preventing and reducing damage and pollution of
  environment
• Enhancing and protecting nature resources and
  nature heritage
• Promotion of access to information and knowledge
  regarding nature resources and environment

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Preventing and reducing damage and pollution of
environment

• Recommendations
• Development of innovative systems in the field of
  water, waste, transport and energy management
  taking into account the scarcity of local
  resources as well as the sensitivity of the
  environment
• Cooperation between neighboring communities with
  aim to lower expenses of renovation and
  development of water supply and sewage treatment
  systems
• Promotion of the policy norms that prescribes
  that local households in coastal areas have to
  ensure sewage waters proper collection and
  utilization
• Establishment of the roof-organization whose task
  would be development of a common study on
  necessary investments, preparation of projects
  technically economical evaluation and what is
  even more important lobbying the necessity of
  investments
• Promotion of good practice agricultural and
  forestry practices, and best available techniques
  in industries
• Exchange of experience regarding management of
  different water bodies
• Regeneration of areas damaged by former military
  activities
• Strengthening of the infrastructure of ports so
  that there are necessary facilities to deal with
  emergency conditions (for example, leakage of
  chemical substances into water)
• Promotion of environmentally friendly use of the
  leftover materials (peat, timber, clay balls) in
  the small ports (Parnu case).

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Enhancing and protecting nature resources and
nature heritage

• Recommendations
• Creation of the common monitoring system for the
  Gulf of Riga in order to monitor ecological
  conditions (also for other issues like spread of
  alien species etc.)
• Development of green guidelines (rules) on how
  to find balance between development and
  protection, spreading of information between
  municipalities so that they all have common
  guidelines to use in planning
• Development of hot spots of nature tourism
  (development of proper infrastructure based on
  the best practices)
• Improvement of safety on the highways and big
  roads (animals crossing the roads) as well avoid
  that animals dieing on the roads (amphibians,
  mammals and birds)
• Organizing the awareness raising campaigns for
  fishermen regarding protection of seals and fish
  stock and in the Baltic Sea, as well common
  actions to prevent burning of fields in the
  spring
• Development of new tourism product- off-road
  vehicles routes. To avoid degradation of
  sensitive coastal areas it is necessary to find
  alternative places for development of these
  routes besides the coastal area and protected
  nature areas, for example in the used sand and
  gravel fields.
• Improvement of the common integrated coastal
  management administration and control system
  within the region
• Exchanging of experience on combating of alien
  species (especially problem with the Hogweed
  (Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden).

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Promotion of access to information and knowledge
regarding nature resources and environment

• Recommendations
• Development of the image of the region using the
  unique and characteristic nature and culture
  values
• Development of common transparent information
  system (web portal) within the region regarding
  nature protection, land use, guidelines for
  sustainable use of resources so that people can
  have a look and see where and what they can do.
  This web portal could be used also as the
  information platform for tourism.
• Organizing the awards within the region for the
  best environmental practice (for companies,
  municipalities or even schools).

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Principles of Spatial Planning

• Cooperation between experts of different sectors
  (spatial planning, developers, environmental
  experts) within the region
• Limitation of the impacts of natural disasters
  (storms, floods)
• Promotion of more spatially balanced
  accessibility of the coastal areas
• Limiting the expansion of settlement structure in
  environmentally valuable areas and those with the
  potential flood risk

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Cooperation between experts of different sectors
(spatial planning, developers, environmental
experts) within the region

• Recommendations
• Establishment of the team of planners within the
  region in order to develop strategic
  recommendations for local governments regarding
  planning in coastal areas, also building
• Cooperation with aim to prevent possible
  conflicts in nearest future regarding wind parks
  on the important bird migration routes

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Limitation of the impacts of natural disasters
(storms, floods)

• Recommendations
• Sharing of knowledge among the Livonia Maritima
  partners and also involvement of more partners to
  find the best practices on how to cope with dune
  moving problems, flooding and erosion through the
  global look
• IT simulation for floods, erosion with aim to
  show to the local authorities what can happen and
  how to behave in these situations
• Guidelines for builders about the best practice
  on building specifications for buildings reliable
  against floods and storm damages.

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Promotion of more spatially balanced
accessibility of the coastal areas

• Recommendations
• Nomination of the areas for the development of
  settlement structure) and including of these
  areas in the regional plans as important areas
  for the development of the region
• Development of different cooperation projects
  with local involvement regarding coastal areas
  (tourism and nature protection, blue flag
  beaches, beach for family activities etc.)
• Exchanging of experience between local
  governments regarding accessibility and
  development of coastal areas, different
  scenarios.

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Limiting the expansion of settlement structure in
environmentally valuable areas and those with the
potential flood risk

• Recommendations
• Development of the common plan that would define
  the risk areas (also map information).

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Other relevant principles

• Enhancing cultural heritage as a factor for
  development
• Development of high quality sustainable tourism

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Enhancing cultural heritage as a factor for
development

• Recommendations
• Examination and general assessment of landscapes
  within the region, the analysis of their
  characteristics, of their ecosystems, forces and
  pressures transforming them definition of the
  landscape quality objectives
• Integration of landscape development into spatial
  planning as well as into sectoral policies such
  as those related to economy, agriculture,
  infrastructure and urban development, culture,
  environment, social development, which all have
  direct or indirect effects on the development of
  landscapes
• Strengthening of cross-border, transnational and
  interregional cooperation in the fields of
  landscape development, exchanging of experience
  and research projects, involving in particular
  regional and local authorities
• Strengthening of the awareness of people, private
  organizations and territorial authorities of the
  value of landscapes, their economic significance,
  their evolution and possibilities of conserving
  and improving them.

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Development of high quality sustainable tourism

• Recommendations
• Development of proper infrastructure (bicycle
  routes, walking paths, eco-toilets, parking
  places, garbage-bins etc.) in most attended and
  sensitive coastal areas
• Development of methodological materials for
  municipalities and entrepreneurs to educate about
  more economical and effective solutions for
  public tourism infrastructure in tourism hot
  spots and different coastal areas.

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Suggestions

• To ensure translation of the outputs (Situation
  Analyze document and Common principles document)
  in Latvian and Estonian languages so that it is
  useful for wider target group
• To ensure more local involvement in projects
  planning and implementation.
• The United States of Baltic's

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Thank you for attention!

• Ligita Laipeniece
• PWG Supervisor / Consultant
• Email ligita.laipeniece_at_gmail.com
• Mob. Phone [phone]
• Valdeko Palginomm
• PWG Consultant
• Email palk_at_entec.ee
• Phones 372 44 726
• 372 5113010