Integrating maritime cultural heritage into maritime spatial planning in Estonia

Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) is a process increasingly utilized to allocate space for human activities to support sustainable development of marine areas. Maritime cultural heritage (MCH) is often overlooked within the MSP framework since it is not often readily defined within a given space and, therefore, not mapped. However, MCH holds particular value for regional communities, representing their history and legacy. In addition, MCH offers ideal opportunities for the development of local/regional blue economy initiatives (e.g., sustainable tourism). Therefore, the successful development and implementation of MSP processes requires the active engagement of local communities and the consideration of their MCH. In the light of the process developed in Estonia, we assessed how cultural heritage and in particular, its intangible form, can be integrated into MSP. Stakeholder engagement was used to conduct cultural mapping and knowledge co-production which resulted in 'county portraits', a unique approach to strengthen the potential of MCH and dependent human activities and to promote its future consideration in MSP process. The findings demonstrate that the EU Directive on MSP offers opportunities for coastal EU Member States to customize their MSP and use innovative solutions for the explicit incorporation of the MCH. Furthermore, inclusion of MCH could be framed as a way to broaden the appeal of MSP and the MSP process to become more inclusive of diverse values and communities.