Addressing transboundary challenges: Exploring the interactive relations between collaborative governance and transboundary marine spatial planning in Europe

Transboundary challenges or issues have become the main drivers of collaborative governance (CG) in coastal and marine waters, contributing more specifically to the initiatives of transboundary marine spatial planning (TMSP). The purpose of this article is to explore the interactive relations between CG and TMSP and consider how to combine them to solve transboundary problems. Based on literature review, the process of CG in a transboundary context is summarised to produce a theoretical framework for use in case study analysis of five European TMSP projects. These represent different regional seas and the study leads to a new model showing how the collaboration dimensions of TMSP have been established. The main findings are: (1) CG provided a theoretical and practical framework for the conceptual development of TMSP, especially in intergovernmental cooperation, cross-sectoral integration and multi-stakeholder engagement; (2) three existing CG dimensions, and an additional one of data harmonisation, constitute a four-dimensional assessment; (3) existing CG mechanisms or frameworks in any transboundary context, not just marine-related, can contribute to, and benefit from, TMSP; (4) TMSP has been proved to be an effective tool to promote marine CG, but requires higher collaboration performance and further capacity building to respond to transboundary challenges and ensure the sustainability of transboundary collaboration over time.