The Final Conference of the MARSPLAN-BS II project was held virtually on November 25, 2021 (organised by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Work – MRDPW, Bulgaria, project coordinator of MARSPLAN-BS II). The project is implemented with the financial assistance of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) of the European Union (EU) via the European Commission`s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Agency (CINEA) under the Multi-beneficiary Grant Agreement EASME/EMFF/2018/ 1.2.1.5/01/SI2.806725. The project runs from July 2019 till the end of 2021 and its main goal is to support coordinated cross-sectoral Maritime Spatial Planning in Bulgaria and Romania in the framework of EU MSP Directive 2014/89/EU and to establish a long-term mechanism for cross-border cooperation in the Black Sea Basin.
Over 80 participants from different organizations attended the conference, including representatives of the European Commission`s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA); the Black Sea Commission, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, members of MARSPLAN-BS II Advisory Board and all project partners.
Mr. Angel Gyorev, project coordinator (Ministry of Regional Development and Public Work – MRDPW, Bulgaria) presented the work done so far on the project. Mr. Bogdan Ghinea, the representative of the Romanian Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration summarized the lessons learned from developing the vision for Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) in the Black Sea. The representative of the European Commission`s DG MARE Juan Ronco Zapatero welcomed the cooperation between Bulgaria and Romania in the field of MSP and assured that the two countries have the support of the European Commission to continue their work in this direction.
An analysis of conflicts of maritime use and the environment, as well as the general framework and in relation to national maritime spatial plans, sharing good practices from different regions of the world, as well as many other interesting analyzes were part of the topics discussed.
Dr. Margarita Stancheva (CCMS coordinator in the project) presented How to integrate Land-Sea Interactions (LSI) in MSP for the cross-border region, and Best practices and recommendations for further work on integrating land-sea interactions into cross-border MSP. Dr. Stancheva presented also the report, focused on Addressing Multi-Use (MU) concept with maritime spatial planning in the cross-border region (Bulgaria). The CCMS is leading the implementation of both LSI and MU activities.
Dr. Hristo Stanchev (CCMS GIS expert at the project) presented study on Implementation of LSI methodology – specific case study on coastal erosion.
More information on presentations from the final conference and project results can be found on the MARSPLAN-BS II website:
http://www.marsplan.ro/en/events.html
http://www.marsplan.ro/en/results/marsplan-bs-ii-integration-of-land-sea-interactions.html
http://www.marsplan.ro/en/results/marsplan-bs-ii-addressing-the-multi-use-concept.html