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Increasing pressures on the coastal zone calls for new approaches to its governance. The ecosystem services (ES) concept has been presented as a solution for more integrated and ecosystem-based management, providing tools to categorise knowledge on ecosystems, the services they provide, and their value. This paper offers an analysis of the introduction of the ES concept into Norwegian coastal spatial planning as a new governance approach. The study is based on document analysis of relevant legal and policy documents, such as white papers, parliamentary bills, official reports, acts and regulations. Through this process this study finds that only incremental changes have been made to integrate the ES concept into the governance of the coastal zone. ES terms and methods to apply the concept in day-to-day governance have not yet been provided. The multilevel and multiscale governance system is not structured to accommodate such an intersectoral and interdisciplinary approach. The municipal planning system could however be well suited, in particular the strategic environmental assessments. The municipalities act like an integrating body, where the trade-offs between different uses or non-uses of natural resources are considered before making decisions. There is, however, a need for adapted knowledge databases, clarification of methods and training for the municipalities to be able to take on this task. If the government intends to introduce ES based management in Norway, a first step would be to designate the appropriate authority to facilitate a process of relevant authorities across sectors and/or levels to take on this task and to develop guidelines for municipal planners. The experience from Norway therefore shows that without a decision on how the concept should be implemented and who should provide the necessary tools for practitioners to apply, the ES concept will not be effectively integrated into the governance system.

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Bob Dylan once sang that he contained multitudes. So too does integration. More integrated planning of coasts and oceans has long been hailed as a goal and is seen as a pathway towards a more legitimate, cost-effective, equitable and sustainable planning of marine space. However, a reading of the literature indicates that many integration efforts have seemingly failed to reach their potential, and there is no clear understanding of what integration means or how we should best go about achieving it.The paper claims that this uncertainty partially stems from a unnuanced and static treatment of the concept, and a lack of recognition of the multitudes of integration. The paper argues firstly that fragmentation should not uncritically be seen as the antithesis to integration and as a negative property to be avoided. Secondly, there needs to be greater recognition of both the varying degrees of integration and the contextually dependent necessity of different degrees of integration. Lastly, it is more fruitful to see the multitude of nodes in the expanding ‘network of planning’ not as fragmentation, but as differentiation. Such an approach allows us to see integration as a mean towards more sustainable planning of coastal and marine areas, not end in and of itself.

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