The Celtic Seas Partnership was a pioneering €4m European Community LIFE+ project that brought together sea-users, scientists and governments to help achieve healthy and sustainable seas in the Celtic Seas Marine Region. The project, led by WWF-UK, ran until December 2016. The other project partners were Liverpool University (supported by the North West Coastal Forum), the Natural Environment Research Council (British Oceanographic Data Centre; UK), Dublin Regional Authority (Republic of Ireland) and SeaWeb (France).
The project used a stakeholder-led approach to contribute to the development of marine strategies, particularly the Marine Strategy Framework Directive for the achievement of good environmental status of marine waters. As part of this work the North West Coastal Forum was contracted by Liverpool University to deliver stakeholder engagement for the Celtic Seas Partnership in North West England. A series of workshops, conferences and pilot studies were held around the Celtic Seas Marine Region to develop and share best practice models and tools.
Outputs from the project are all available on the Celtic Seas Partnership website (see link below). These include a data portal relevant to the MSFD indicators, Future Trends work and a range of useful reports including:
– Marine Proofing for Good Environmental Status of the Sea – Good Practice Guidelines for Terrestrial Planning
– Nature’s Services and the Sea – a resource pack on ecosystem services for marine and coastal users
– 3 best practice guides covering marine management and decision making across borders, co-location of marine renewables with other interests and marine user conflict prevention/resolution
To show support for the value of continuing to work together at the Celtic Seas scale you can also sign up to the ‘Statement of Support’ on the Celtic Seas Partnershp website (see below).
For more information on the project see www.celticseaspartnership.eu
or contact Caroline Salthouse, Stakeholder Engagement Officer NW England at the North West Coastal Forum
Celtic Seas Partnership is an EC Life+ project with the contribution of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Community. Project number: LIFE11/ENV/UK/392