Can the Nordic Region Save the Baltic Sea While Strengthening Its Security?

Nordic Pavilion, COP17, Yerevan

The Nordic countries aim to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. The Baltic Sea, the world's largest body of brackish water, shows how far there is still to go. Decades of nutrient run-off from agriculture and wastewater have left large parts of the seabed without oxygen. Overfishing has depleted fish stocks and weakened the sea's resilience. Climate change adds warmer water, more frequent marine heatwaves

and acidification.

A new geopolitical reality now increases the pressure. Food security, energy independence through offshore wind and the protection of undersea cables and pipelines all place new demands on the same sea. These priorities can support recovery, for instance if offshore wind farms are designed to keep out bottom trawling and benefit marine life. They can also compete with recovery for space, resources and political attention.

The Baltic Sea is a regional case with…