Elsi Kauppinen
Coordinator
Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Southwest Finland / Policy Area Nutri of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region
Finland
Working together on sustainable nutrient management has a long history in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). The countries of BSR are small, and it's been clear for a while that no single country can solve the sea pollution problem alone. Already the worst has been avoided, and trends are towards improving conditions in many places. So, there is still a need for intensive cooperation.
The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) was set up 50 years ago to make this cooperation a long-term commitment. It serves as a platform for regional policymaking. In 2009, the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) started, making cooperation even stronger, more inclusive, and open. The EUSBSR aims to cut down on overlapping work among existing networks and organizations, improve information flow, and bring stakeholders together.
Nutri is one of the Policy Areas under the EUSBSR, coordinated by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Southwest Finland and State Water Enterprise Polish Waters and funded by Interreg Baltic Sea Region -programme. Its goal is to reduce nutrient inputs to the sea and promote nutrient recycling. Nutri helps implement HELCOM’s Baltic Sea Action Plan. While HELCOM handles regional policymaking, Nutri focuses on supportive activities like working with projects where HELCOM isn't a partner and linking them to regional policies. This way, results from ongoing projects can feed into regional policies through cooperation facilitated by Nutri and other EUSBSR Policy Areas. Nutri and HELCOM have a well-established cooperation, with both observing each other’s meetings.
In addition, many local, regional, national and Baltic Sea-wide organisations such as Union of Baltic Cities, Coalition Clean Baltic, Race for the Baltic and WWF Baltic Sea programme also actively develop nutrient management towards more sustainable practices.
Cooperation with remote parts of the BSR
Some parts of the Baltic Sea catchment area belong to countries that are beyond Interreg Baltic Sea Region -programme’s and HELCOM’s usual operational area. Due to the Russian Federation’s unprovoked and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, an observer state to HELCOM, all regular meetings of HELCOM bodies and project groups involving the Russian Federation under the HELCOM umbrella are currently postponed. This strategic pause does not mean a cessation of HELCOM activities. While small parts of Norway, Ukraine, Czechia, and Slovakia fall within the catchment area, their level of cooperation within the Baltic Sea Region framework remains limited.
However, engaging with politically cooperative countries that are not HELCOM Contracting Parties remains important. Through collaboration and joint projects, EU countries in the Baltic Sea Region can support Ukraine’s efforts to align with EU environmental standards and avoid past mistakes. At the same time, broader engagement across the region can strengthen efforts to reduce nutrient pollution and improve water quality.
EUSBSR has facilitated cooperation with Ukraine by organizing events where Ukrainian stakeholders have voice their needs and challenges and networked with potential partners. Nutri’s Polish coordinator also joined as a partner to Clean Baltic Source project, funded by the Swedish Institute. It begun a concrete cooperation on wastewater issues between stakeholders from the Lviv region and the BSR. The project helped Ukrainian municipalities and wastewater treatment operators get information from Swedish and Polish organizations. The established cooperation continues through other projects. Rebuilding efforts of Ukraine have already begun, and countries are setting up concrete infrastructure investment plans. Rebuilding back better can also improve nutrient management.
Capitalization of project results
The idea behind cooperating with projects is to extend project life cycles and bring attention to ongoing projects. Nutri and other Policy Areas facilitate idea generation in topics relevant to their goals and help new stakeholders find partners in the region. Als organisation of joint events with several projects is more effective.
The Annual Forum of the EUSBSR is a hub for projects to showcase their activities through the Networking Village and workshops. Online events like PA Nutri Talks provide open and inclusive opportunities to discuss specific topics and present projects and policies from around the BSR.
Some topics like nutrient recycling is still research heavy. There is a need to activate also other stakeholders like farmer unions to project and cooperation work. This will be a future focus for Nutri.
Future developments
PA Nutri plans to start two reference groups. One group will focus on implementation of national actions in HELCOM’s BSAP related to nutrient recycling, and the second on wastewater treatment. The groups will facilitate experience exchange between countries and stakeholders and help identify needs for joint projects or other activities.