In English

SustainBaltic (ICZM Plans for Sustaining Coastal and Marine Human-ecological Networks in the Baltic Region, CB354) is an international research and development project. The main goal in the project is to enhance sustainable land use along the coastlines of Southwest Finland and Northern Estonia. In the project, four Integrated Coastal Zone Management plans (ICZM) are produced based on the ecological values, land use and the current human activities in the planning area. A comprehensive spatial analysis will be conducted during the early phases of the project to create a general overview about the ecological, social and economical features of the project area. In addition to data collection and description, we assess potential conflicts between environmental values and current land use using sophisticated statistical methods (e.g. Zonation). The case areas (two from Finland and two from Estonia), in which ICZM plans are prepared, are chosen based on the results of the GIS analysis.

SustainBaltic is funded by EU Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2014−2020. The lead partner in the project is the Department of Geography and Geology in the University on Turku. Other project partners from Finland are Finnish Environmental Institute and the Regional Council of Satakunta and Estonian University of Applied Sciences (Eesti Maaülikool), the University of Tallinn (Tallinna Ülikool) and County Government of Lääne-Viru (Lääne-Viru Maavalitsus) from Estonia, respectively. Sustain Baltic’s project team is experienced in the regional level planning, participatory methods, human-environmental research, species and habitat level protection, and GIS analyses. The overall budget of the project is 1.3 million Euros, of which approximately 1.023.000 Euros is granted via European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The implementation of the project can be followed in the project website www.utu.fi/SustainBaltic. Activities and publications of the project, which are related to Satakunta, are also presented in this website.