Land-sea interactions in European marine governance: State of the art, challenges and recommendations

The recent economic development of maritime areas has led to the emergence of new approaches to marine governance in many regions. However, existing governance mechanisms still largely overlook the complex natural and socio-economic processes that characterise marine and coastal ecosystems. This gap explains why the integration of land-sea interactions into marine and coastal governance remains particularly weak and inadequate to address the current challenges, especially in Europe. Despite the introduction of legislation at the European Union level, governance mechanisms remain highly fragmented.
The paper provides an overview of current governance practices in the European Union, including land-sea interactions, particularly since the adoption of Directive 2014/89/EU, which marked a significant turning point in European marine governance. It examines how land-sea interactions are addressed within European marine and coastal governance, identifies the challenges to their effective integration, and proposes a set of policy recommendations to strengthen it. Furthermore, the paper explores the applicability and relevance of European governance frameworks beyond Europe, investigating how these concepts might be adapted or reinterpreted in diverse geographical and socio-political contexts to support strong sustainability in marine and coastal ecosystems.   
Based on the European experience, the paper identifies three key practices for addressing issues related to land-sea interactions: 1) the establishment of a robust legislative framework ; 2) the implementation through an integrated approach between policy sectors, governance levels, and geographical scales ; 3) the development of collaborative governance processes where boundary spanners facilitate communication, coordination and trust between private and public stakeholders. The paper identifies three key action levers to improve the integration of land-sea interactions into European marine and coastal governance : 1) the effective implementation of European legislative frameworks based on integrated approaches; 2) the development of multi-level governance; 3) the establishment of a science-policy-society triangle.