Background

There has been a great deal of natural science research on the Baltic for a long time now. However, we must also understand the social and economic mechanisms at work in order to create politically and economically sustainable instruments for improving the state of the Baltic Sea. Combined research knowledge from natural sciences and the social sector helps ensure that policy-making benefits fully from research findings.

Policy-making faces a number of unsolved questions. Which financial incentives are the most effective in regulating nutrient loads? How can the main risks arising from increased maritime traffic be identified and predicted? What is the best way of enlisting the support of NGOs and the business sector for saving the Baltic Sea? After all, this is ultimately a question of the decisions and actions of individual citizens and private enterprises. They decide what the nutrient loads and pollutants are in the Baltic Sea and the surrounding area.

Sustainable limits for the decisions made by individual citizens and private enterprises can be created through policy-making and shared commitments. The European Union's Baltic Sea Strategy, the Helsinki Convention (the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area) and BONUS 169, a Joint Baltic Sea Research Programme under Article 169 of the EC Treaty, all offer valuable guidelines for policy-makers. The Academy of Finland also has an important mission in forging contacts between policy-makers and the research community. It is important to convey policy-makers' information needs to the research community, and to interpret vital research knowledge for policy-makers who are not themselves scientists.