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Baltic Sea Region

The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) comprises eight EU Member States, the neighbouring countries Norway and Belarus, and the north-west regions of Russia. The EU Member States – Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany – and Russia are all directly bordering the Baltic Sea. Parts of Norway and Belarus are in the catchment area of the Baltic Sea. In 2009 the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) was adopted and adaptation to climate change was one of the 15 priority areas identified in the Strategy. Currently there are 17 priority areas and 5 Horizontal Actions within the EUSBSR and climate change adaptation is one of the actions under the Horizontal Action “Sustainable Development”.

Transnational cooperation on adaptation in the region has been supported by a number of projects funded through for instance the EU Baltic Sea Region Programme that is part of the Interreg programme in the region. Transnational adaptation projects funded by the EU Baltic Sea Region Programme are BalticClimate, BaltCICA and Baltadapt, many of which have focused on capacity building and knowledge exchange. Targeted support for developing national adaptation strategies has been provided to the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia in the BaltClim project.

Under the EUSBSR’s framework, a strategy and action plan for adaptation for the macro-region were drafted in the BaltAdapt project. The proposals were based on a regional vulnerability assessment, impact assessment reports, macro-regional climate information and a gap-fit analysis of adaptation research and policy design. The strategy and action plan have been put forward for political endorsement under existing cooperation fora under the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). In the ongoing follow-up policy process, member states have been invited to a round table to discuss next steps in transnational cooperation on climate change adaptation based on the recommendations from the strategy and action plan.

More information on transnational cooperation on adaptation in the Baltic Sea Region:

climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/baltic-sea-region
www.cbss.org/environment-and-sustainability/eusbsr-hasd
www.baltadapt.eu
www.baltcica.org
www.balticclimate.org