Multi-layer governance performance of marine policies

Project Information

PERMAGOV

Grant agreement ID: 101086297

DOI

10.3030/101086297

EC signature date 14 November 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 4 919 743,75

EU contribution

€ 4 919 743,75

Coordinated by

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PERMAGOV (Multi-layer governance performance of marine policies)

Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

PERMAGOV sets out to improve EU marine governance so that it can better meet the goals and objectives established in the European Green Deal related to enhancing renewable marine energy, decarbonizing maritime transport, protecting marine life and reducing marine plastic pollution. The EU Green Deal is a vision that brings together social, economic, and sustainability targets and places equal emphasis on each of these. The current largely fragmented nature of EU marine governance needs to evolve toward a more cross-cutting and agile arrangement, one that is in sync with wider developments taking place at sea, at shores and on land. Changing and innovating marine governance itself is complex and challenging as decision-making and implementation to sustainably use the marine environment involves a multitude of actors operating across various governance levels and across social, economic and sustainability domains. Moreover, different marine sectors, such as transport and energy or nature conservation, have their own governance frameworks, collaborations between actors, strategic priorities and knowledge needs. PERMAGOV aims to contribute to changing and innovating marine governance to achieve the EU Green Deal objectives for marine energy, maritime transport, marine life, and marine plastics, by piloting a multi-level governance approach for across various regional seas and national waters around Europe. A central component of the EU Green Deal approach to governance, and thus also of PERMAGOV, is to incorporate e-governance and digital strategies to improve compliance and innovation through better monitoring, simulation, multi-party marine spatial planning, and data-informed decision-making.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

PERMAGOV has been working on developing and testing a multi-level marine governance approach on its four issue-areas across the North and Celtic Seas, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It has mapped how the EU Green Deal is currently developing new and updating existing legislation and policy instruments to enhance marine energy, decarbonize maritime transport, protect marine life and reduce marine plastic pollution. This has been compared with the existing governance arrangements in place to regulate various sectors and economic and nature protection activities.

As part of its multi-level governance approach, PERMAGOV has developed a diagnostic tool to identify institutional barriers that impede the further development and implementation of legislation and policy instruments. Institutional barriers refer to how rules, procedures and norms form obstacles to policy implementation and innovation. This diagnostic tool has been used to identify the main institutional barriers that exist within the EU when it comes to enhancing renewable marine energy, decarbonizing maritime transport, protecting marine life and reducing marine plastic pollution.

It has also developed a multi-layered collaborative marine governance model to better understand how institutional attributes enable or constrain the pursuit of EU Green Deal objectives. With the model, users can examine whether collaborative dynamics, actors capabilities (to develop and implement new and existing marine policies and legislation), and e-governance tools and approaches need to be better aligned or enhanced to improve decision making and implementation. This model has been applied to the identified governance arrangements that are key to implementing EU Green Deal policy objectives and legislation related to enhancing marine energy, decarbonizing maritime transport, protecting marine life, and reducing marine plastics. Based on this application, governance challenges that impede the performance of these governance arrangements have been identified.

The identification of these governance challenges form the basis for the development of (e-)governance solutions and strategies to improve marine governance performance in the EU. Design thinking methodology has been adopted to move from governance challenges to identifying the specific needs for governance change that need to be addressed. Based on the selection of such needs and a vision of the desired future of EU marine governance, a range of potential actions and solutions are identified and further operationalized.

PERMAGOV engages end-users from government, industry and civil society in developing and testing the various tools, models and (e-)governance solutions. PERMAGOV has also been building a wider network of stakeholders by its strong presence on LinkedIn, Twitter/X and by having regular stakeholder meetings to create impact from its activities, results and achievements.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The diagnostic tool and multi-layered governance model move beyond the state of the art because they link wider insights on institutional barriers, collaborative governance dynamics, e-governance and governance capabilities to the context of marine governance under the EU Green Deal, and recently also under the EU Ocean Pact.

PERMAGOV goes beyond only considering institutions (rules, norms and procedures), but also seeks to understand how actors use their capabilities, collaboration and e-governance to change these institutions in a time where rapid governance change and innovation is needed to meet the marine challenges around climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution.

E-governance is a rapidly evolving governance innovation, which has the potential to enable more efficient and effective decision making and implementation. PERMAGOV is advancing the understanding of the role that e-governance plays in implementing the EU Green Deal objectives. It will identify conditions under which the use of e-governance advances the capabilities of actors to improve collaboration and overcome institutional barriers to implement marine policies under the EU Green Deal.

PERMAGOV is keen to see its academic results being used by students and researchers at academic and educational institutes. The development of journal articles and presentation of results at academic conferences and seminars are therefore key activities to share and engage with students and academics about PERMAGOV’s activities, tools and achievements. More information about the project and its results can be found on www.permagov.eu.

This image shows which PERMAGOV case studies focus on which regional seas within Europe

This image shows how the PERMAGOV case studies relate to the core objectives of the EU Green Deal