WP4: Transitions towards holistic marine governance and improved regulations

Lead: Henrik Ringbom

Drawing mainly on the case studies from workpackages 1–3, this WP analyses the path towards holistic marine governance and regulation, balancing the protection and use of marine biodiversity. Holistic governance helps to improve coordination across government levels and policy frameworks and to be responsive to changes in human activities and marine ecosystems. It increases the legitimacy of biodiversity governance and regulation.

The objectives of WP4 are to:

1. Identify conditions of holistic governance and social acceptability for biodiversity policy success in the Archipelago Sea and beyond.
2. Translate the findings of WPs 1–3 into a workable legal framework that builds upon such holistic governance.

The work is structured under three specific tasks:

This task is divided into two sub-tasks:

A) Identification of main governance challenges and gaps in the case studies of workpackages 1–3

The work includes meta-analysis of the cases, including stakeholder workshops and discussions with researchers and stakeholders. The expected results include input for the case studies in WPs 1–3 and identified links between issues in the workpackages and governance tools and mechanisms.

B) Identification of barriers to implementing solutions advocated for in workpackages 1–3 and assessment of their relative significance and mutual relationships

This sub-task consists of meta-analysis of the WP1–3 case studies, to be undertaken once the first results of these WPs are available. The expected outcomes include identifying the link between barriers to implementing solutions in workpackages 1–3 and governance solutions.

Contact: Nina Tynkkynen, Henrik Ringbom

This task is divided into two sub-tasks:

A) Understanding social acceptability for biodiversity measures

This task studies decisions that have an environmental impact (either positive or negative) at the local level (towards new farming practices, aquaculture installations, new energy installations, etc.) and explores mechanisms to identify and pre-empt conflicts at an early stage of management. The work includes stakeholder workshops and deliberation labs, research on the quantification of values, and analysis of previous project findings. The expected outcomes include determining mechanisms to identify and manage conflicts.

B) Encouraging holistic sustainability in local decision-making

This task works towards encouraging holistic sustainability (not only short-term economic gains) in local decision-making, while also examining how ‘holistic sustainability’ is to be understood and accomplished. The work includes stakeholder deliberations and workshops that aim at identifying the goals of different stakeholders and studying how they relate to each other in a sustainability triangle, highlighting the ecologic, economic and social aspects and their relative weight.

Contact: Henrik Ringbom, Nina Tynkkynen, Cecilia Lundberg

This task develops sustainable and effective regulations for the cases in workpackages 1–3, also including a regulatory gap analysis. The work includes a desktop study and a meta-analysis of the case studies in WP1–3. The expected results are to identify the regulatory solutions to overcome the barriers and challenges in the case studies.

Contact: Henrik Ringbom, Nina Tynkkynen, Cecilia Lundberg

People

Henrik Ringbom SOS WP4 Lead; Professor of Marine Law+358 50 463 3904henrik.ringbom@abo.fiResearch profile
Nina Tykkynen SOS Vice Director and WP5 Lead; Professor of Environmental Governance and Policy+358 50 440 0406nina.tynkkynen@abo.fiResearch profile
Cecilia Lundberg SOS Co-creation Coordinator; Education Planner at the Centre for Lifelong Learning+358 46 920 2007cecilia.lundberg@abo.fiResearch profile