On 3 June, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted an informative report 'On the mid-term assessment of the implementation of the State Long-term Thematic Plan for the Development of Public Infrastructure on the Baltic Sea Coast for 2020-2023' (Coastal Report).

The Coastal Report was prepared to monitor the implementation of the State Long-term Thematic Plan for the Development of Public Infrastructure on the Baltic Sea Coast (hereinafter – the Plan). It evaluates the progress of the Plan's implementation and provides proposals for further coastal development and more effective implementation of the Plan.

The report concludes that the achievement of the strategic objectives of the Coastal Plan has been significantly influenced by global trends, including the Covid-19 pandemic, which increased public interest in using coastal recreational opportunities on a daily basis, and geopolitical challenges that have highlighted energy security and defence needs, bringing discussions about the potential impact of offshore wind farm construction on the landscape and local communities to the fore. The report finds that climate change, demographic processes and changes in social habits have also influenced developments and needs on the coast. These and other aspects are reflected in the assessment of the Coastal Plan's indicators and activities.

The Coastal Plan's indicators show that overall economic activity is increasing, investments are being attracted, and management quality is improving; however, work is needed on solutions that support the balancing of various innovations and the development of the Blue Economy with traditional sectors (fishing, tourism, ports, etc.) and their mutual integration. It is also concluded that purposeful management of investment and visitor flows has reduced the impact of anthropogenic pressure on coastal vegetation, although data on biodiversity quality do not yet indicate significant improvements.

Despite the challenges, the implementation of the Coastal Plan has been successful so far, especially in improving public infrastructure, by following the approach set out in the Plan – to plan and direct development primarily in those areas identified as priority. The conclusion of the report provides proposals to achieve the targets set in the Plan by 2030 – it is essential to plan and implement various support mechanisms from the state, as well as to strengthen the capacity of coastal municipalities and inter-institutional cooperation, and to ensure the best possible quality of data and analysis to be used in the planning and decision-making process. At the same time, it must be taken into account that the coast is primarily a place of residence for a large part of Latvia's population and there is a need to balance the needs of local communities and coastal visitors.

Summarising the information obtained during the development of the Report, it is concluded that the scope of the Plan should be expanded to comprehensively develop the quality of life on the coast. This includes the provision of all-season infrastructure resistant to climate change, various mobility solutions, with special emphasis on the importance of EuroVelo 13 in the context of everyday travel, as well as multi-functional access points to the sea.

The report also provides proposals for investment priorities on the coast – these would include investments in the road network, utility solutions, adaptation to climate change, improvement of public outdoor space and the transformation of degraded areas, for example, the revitalisation of former industrial and military sites for new functions.

In the process of preparing the report, VARAM actively cooperated with representatives of the Marine and Coastal Spatial Planning Coordination Group and coastal municipalities, and also used the results and experience of various international projects, such as “Baltic Sea2Land”, “SELINA”, “Land-Sea-Act” and others, where the ministry is one of the partners. The development process of the Coastal Report was also part of the “Baltic Sea2Land” project pilot activities, where the project's central solution Sea2Land Navigator was tested – a support tool for marine and coastal planning, including a multi-level governance method and approach tool, a geospatial data platform and a knowledge repository, which brings together existing planning experience in the Baltic Sea region, as well as providing access to various thematic studies.

It should be mentioned that last year VARAM also developed an interactive app Marine and Coastal Spatial Planning Tool, using the support of the platform Sea2Land Navigator created within the “Baltic Sea2Land” project. The goal of the tool is to provide support in solving various tasks related to marine and coastal spatial planning.

The tool can be found: HERE.

The Coastal Report is available: https://tapportals.mk.gov.lv/legal_acts/d33ca7fb-04c4-4549-9b03-58a4e3b3d081

The Coastal Report was developed with the support of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Transnational Cooperation Programme 2021–2027 project “Promoting Integrated Management in the Coast by Sustainably Using Natural and Social Capital (Baltic Sea2Land)”.