5th Baltic MSP Forum. Parallel session 7: Advancing Transboundary Governance Baltic&North Sea

Parallel session 7: Advancing Transboundary Governance: Baltic and North Sea Challenges and Prospects

The session aims to identify pathways for more adaptive, inclusive, and coherent governance, offering insights into how cross-basin learning and dialogue can help future-proof maritime governance structures across European sea regions. Focusing on the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), the session will present findings from the ongoing NESB project’s governance analysis, which explores current governance structures and practices related to marine space and Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP). It will also introduce developments in the North Sea, including the initial phase of governance scenario development under the NESB project, as well as the evolving and increasingly prominent role of the Greater North Sea Basin Initiative (GNSBI).

The 5th Baltic MSP Forum "Navigate Planning Through Changes" took place on 11–12 November 2025 in Riga, Latvia. This year, the Forum was organized in close connection with the Baltic Sea2Land project, serving as its final conference, and broadening the scope to strengthen linkages between maritime spatial planning (MSP) and coastal zone planning.

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.

Content or the 5th Baltic MSP Forum represents only the views of the event organisers. It does not reflect the views of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme, the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme and its representatives do not accept any responsibility for the further use of this document and its contents.