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Information Manager:

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Christian-Albrechts-Platz 4
24118 Kiel
DE
Stefanie Maack
E-mail: s.maack@geographie.uni-kiel.de
Phone: 0049 431 880 1782
Fax: 0049 431 880 4658

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Summary description of the project:

The European Green Belt (EuGB) is an ecological backbone of Europe, running through much of the continent from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea and following the route the former Iron Curtain. The Green Belt initiative started as a grassroots movement when the former military blocks collapsed. The aim was and is to save the natural and cultural assets that had grown alongside the Iron Curtain due to over 40 years of restricted access. The Baltic Green Belt project aims at closing the longest "missing link" in this network: The southern and eastern Baltic coast. Here, regional Green Belt activities are still relatively scarce, if at all existent. This “Baltic Green Belt” is unique in that it marks a long seaside stretch in the otherwise predominantly continental Green Belt. The vision of the European Green Belt initiative is to create a global symbol for transboundary co-operation in nature conservation and sustainable development.

The approach of the EuGB focuses on former border regions: People previously separated by the Iron Curtain nowadays co-operate to form economically and ecologically sustainable landscapes. The Baltic Green Belt project adopts this approach and adapts it to the specific situation at the Baltic Sea coast. Here, the cross-border cooperation needs to be complemented by the integration of land and sea issues.

The project community brings together a set of diverse partners engaged in sustainable economy and ecology development. Consisting of NGOs, scientific institutions, public authorities and economic stakeholders, teh partnership excellently mirrors the Green Belt approach of successfully integrating a wide set of actors and supporters. One of the main goals of the project is to establish a permanent and growing platform for transnational cooperation between stakeholders working in nature conservation and sustainable development of the southern and eastern Baltic Sea coast.

Activities of the project aim at improving the ecological situation of the coastal strip on both sides of the waterline while securing economic prosperity. Therefore, the project contributes to the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea, the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, and the EU Recommendation “Implementation of integrated coastal zone management in Europe”. Pilot projects exemplarily cover selected topics and produce transferable good practice examples (coastal & marine nature conservation, sustainable agricultural practice, heritage based tourism, heritage based regional development). A significant part of the project work is dedicated to dissemination and public relations. One reason for this is the novelty of the Green Belt in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). The vision needs to be intensively communicated to selected target groups. The other reason is the implementation into politics, policies and programmes. Both aspects are crucial to the Green Belt’s success.

Achievements of the project so far:

First and foremost, the project has established a vivid partner network under the umbrella of the European Green Belt in a region that was previously devoid of Green Belt activities. The Baltic Green Belt has closed the last gap within the European Green Belt. The durability of the network and the willingness of partners to continue cooperating was jointly demonstrated by signing a memorandum of understanding with the majority of project partners as well as associated and even outside parties who decided to joint the initiative. Throughout three years, the Baltic Green Belt project has fostered the transnational collaboration of environmental NGOs, universities and authorities for a sustainable development of the coast, e.g. by jointly organising events for knowledge exchange, joint education of junior coastal planners, and collaborating in scientific analyses and political statements.

The project has furthermore contributed to the protection of the environment and natural resources by increasing awareness among the general public and decision makers and by preparing offers for alternative developments, e.g. by educating more than 800 farmers in environmentally friendly farming practice and by providing soft tourism guides and information material. Within the project, a number of studies have been carried out which evaluated the implementation of international agreements for coastal nature protection along the Baltic Green Belt, identified barriers and success factors of sustainable coastal development and compiled tangible lessons learned for transnational knowledge transfer. The results can be found in the Synthesis Report as well as additional reports published for free-access download on the project website.

Overall, the project has contributed to the implementation of major political programmes such as the HELCOM Baltic Sea action plan for the protection of the Baltic and the the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea by local and regional examples of improving general practice in preserving natural zones and biodiversity, by participating in the public discussion of international policy documents, by participating as a speaker of environmental concerns in individual regional planning processes and by educating local residents, children, students and even professionals in (environmentally, economically and socially) sustainable regional development.

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List of partners