Baltic COMPASS project grew out of a large number of international projects in the field of land use, agriculture, water and environment related to the protection of the Baltic Sea. Specifically, Baltic COMPASS was a response to the need for a transnational approach to reduce eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and to build adaptive management capacity with respect to international frameworks, EU directives and the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP).
Land use for agricultural purposes in the Baltic Sea Region is expected to intensify due to climate change and increasing global demands for food and bioenergy. This is likely to exacerbate current pressures on the sensitive marine ecosystems. The competence, technologies, policies and science for developing more sustainable solutions are available in the Baltic Sea Region, but these are currently unevenly distributed and harmonized between regions, and moreover between the west and the east. This is the specific transnational challenge addressed by Baltic COMPASS.
The project aimed particularly to remedy the gaps in the stakeholders’ capacity and resources to combat euthrophication and communicate on the different policy levels, and the lack of trust between the environmental and agricultural sectors. The project aimed to support win-win solutions for agriculture, environment and the people throughout the Baltic Sea Region. 22 partners from authorities, interest organizations and research institutes in Finland, Russia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden constituted the partnership.
The target groups for Baltic COMPASS were governments, authorities, agencies, interest organizations and companies with influence on land use in the Baltic Sea Region.
Source: helcom.fi