This special issue episode of the Ocean Governance Podcast combines discussions of a research article with reflections and interviews from the Connecting Seas MSP Conference held in February 2019 in Hamburg.

In this episode we discuss practical challenges for transboundary marine spatial planning, with a particular focus on the Baltic and North Seas. What institutional conditions are needed for good regional cooperation on MSP? How can cooperation be fruitful despite significant differences in legislation, planning culture, the current phase of the MSP process, and possibly also focus of and expectations on MSP? The episode also raises issues related to the nature of MSP as both practical problem-solving and an expression of political priorities reflecting fundamental conceptions of sustainability.

The article discussed in this episode is:

H. Janßen, R. Varjopuro, A. Luttmann, A Morf, and H. Nieminen, Imbalances in interaction for transboundary marine spatial planning: Insights from the Baltic Sea Region, 161 Ocean and Coastal Management (2018) 201–210.

The episode also includes parts of interviews made during the Connecting Seas Conference.

If you want to comment on the content or otherwise communicate with us, please do so by sending an email to: [email protected].

We hope that you will enjoy listening!