Effects of Climate Change on Marine Spatial Planning (MARISPLAN)

The project will investigate, with the aid of hydrodynamic, ecological, watershed, and economic models, how climate change will influence the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea as well as the human activities on the sea and in the watershed area. Changes will occur in sea level, air pressure and wind conditions. Society, in turn, is affected directly by the climate and indirectly by the marine ecosystem. Conditions for agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, maritime traffic, building, recreation and energy production will be different. All these changes will induce major changes in the geographical distribution and population densities of plant and animal species. The project will assess how the society can adapt its policies and uses of the marine ecosystem in a changing climate, and create GIS-based tools for marine spatial planning. Three case study areas will be more closely investigated. These are the Helsinki City sea area, the Archipelago Sea and the Quark-Bothnian Bay area.