The Green Belt as a European Ecological Network strengths and gaps

Stefanie Maack, Tuuli Veersalu, Henri Järv, Asnate Ziemele
CULTURAL HERITAGE PILOT PROJECTS AT THE BALTIC GREEN BELT
4 POTENTIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE COASTEL DEVELOPMENT
The two pilot projects presented here chose different assessment procedures for the
cultural heritage of the Baltic Green Belt as well as two different contexts in which they were
used for regional development: one was a cultural heritage assessment for spatial planning,
the other one was development of touristic products. Both individual pilots delivered valuable
experience which shows that the European Green Belt initiative offers true potentials for
sustainable development of coastal areas:
The EuGB provides a unique selling point for nature tourism: pristine landscapes in
combination with cultural heritage.
The EuGB can foster regional cooperation and joint identity by involving people into
an initiative of pan-european scope.
The EuGB allows for transnational experience exchange between more than twenty
states.
For future sustainable development of the cultural heritage along the coast of the Baltic
Green Belt we recommend:
to adopt the approach of intense but targeted stakeholder involvement for other local
projects by providing external moderation as demonstrated in Latvia
to take over the approach of opening up nature conservation to modern spatial
planning needs demonstrated in Estonia
to assess cultural heritage using a methodology that combines spatial planning and
tourism development needs
to actively inform decision makers about the values of the heritage at the Green Belt –
both cultural and natural.
to maintain and enforce the public discussion about Soviet military heritage by
triggering the yet controversial opinions and personal emotions; to use the military
heritage topic as a vehicle to inform about the natural value of the Green Belt
to harmonise and strengthen the principles applied in sustainable tourism development
at the Green Belt (ecological, economic and social), e.g. by adopting an existing code
of conduct for sensitive regions or by adopting the Agora sustainability check for
regional tourism development [18] .
to formulate measurable goals and establish monitoring mechanisms for any Green
Belt project activities, e.g. within revision of the European Green Belt programme of
work
5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank all those actively involved in the assessment of the
cultural heritage in Latvia and Estonia or supporting the work described here in any other
way. Furthermore, we would like to thank Andreas Sterzel, Erik Sachtleber and Johanna Behn
for carrying out and analysing interviews with regional stakeholders of the pilot projects
described and providing access to their ongoing analyses. The Baltic Green Belt project is
part-financed by the European Union (ERDF) within the Baltic Sea Region Programme.
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