Engaging stakeholders into the Strategy
While the Forum traditionally attracts all major national and regional authorities, as well as various stakeholders involved in transnational cooperation, the event this year also aimed to expand its outreach to local authorities, businesses, and youth. To accommodate that, the special Engagement Day was organised a day before the opening of the Forum, to allow matchmaking of local stakeholders with the relevant Policy Areas and better connect the local interests with the partnership networks and available funding.
The 29 October opened with a roundtable on stakeholder engagement, organised by the Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation (BSSSC) together with the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) and the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR). The discussion there focused on mapping the needs and gaps that might still remain in the Action Plan – and how to overcome those.
Several of the UBC Commissions took part in the group discussions: Sustainable, Planning, as well as the Learning Cities. Paulina Szewczyk (Chair of UBC Planning Cities Commission) presented to the audience a range of activities and cooperation opportunities from different UBC Commissions, and the discussion throughout this roundtable acknowledged the need and the added value of involving local authorities in the regional discussions.
Talking about PFAS
One of the parallel sessions of the Forum, “Let’s Talk About PFAS: Connecting PFAS Strategies in the Baltic Sea Region” was co-organised by UBC Sustainable Cities Commission together with EUSBSR Policy Area Hazards, Baltic Sea PFAS network and ongoing projects. This session focused on the negative impacts of PFAS on citizens, and what local stakeholders could do to address this challenge.
The EMPEREST project, led by our Commission, was featured in two pitches. First, Markus Raudkivi (HELCOM) gave an overview of the work aiming at harmonizing the monitoring of the PFAS situation in the Baltic Sea for a better understanding of the area. The EMPEREST project led a data call last year, collecting vast amounts of monitoring data from the whole Baltic Sea Region. Although the gathered results show some positive signs with PFAS concentrations in sea water, the situation in biota is much more complicated. Compared to the new PFAS thresholds currently on the table in EU discussions, the picture is highly concerning – we are very far from having most fish in the Baltic Sea to be “safe” to eat. Still, the work in the region has progressed a lot, with increasingly more substances from the large group of PFAS being banned or restricted and general awareness reaching an all-time high.
“Only five years ago, when talking to people about PFAS, you needed to convince them that the work is important. Nowadays, most people know and understand why the work against PFAS is vital.”
— Markus Raudkivi, project coordinator at HELCOM
This pitch was followed by Mariia Andreeva (UBC Sustainable Cities) who brought to the stage the city perspective and the solutions that EMPEREST offers for cities aspiring to be water-smart. The topic of PFAS is relatively new to local authorities, however, the concern about PFAS has been growing in the past few years. In collaboration with other actors, such as water utilities, cities can contribute to the elimination of this threat. The PFAS risk-assessment tool built in the EMPEREST project is a first step for cities in the identification and mitigation of their PFAS-related risks. Further, the training materials produced in the project will help cities to strengthen their capacities.
“It is only with coordinated actions that we can address the transboundary topic of PFAS.”
— Mariia Andreeva, communications coordinator at UBC Sustainable Cities Commission
Networking village
With such a large number of participants, the Networking village was the main place of exchange throughout the two days of the Forum.
The UBC stand thrived under a lot of attention and interest, and participants could learn about the activities and establish new cooperations with the representatives from many Commissions: not only Sustainable, but also UBC Cultural, Safe, Learning, and Planning Cities!
Our Sustainable Cities experts took it upon themselves to further widen the UBC presence: leaders of our projects EMPEREST (Lotta Lehti and Mariia Andreeva) and SUMPs for BSR (Ira Sibelius and Adham Maharramli) were taking the stage of the PA Hazards and PA Spatial Planning stands to engage even more stakeholders and raise awareness about the solutions prepared in these projects. Climate-4-CAST project was also prominently represented at the stand of PA Energy, with the Lead partner from HafenCity University and the project transfer leader UBC Sustainable Cities using this opportunity to invite more cities to explore the project tool for managing emissions towards climate neutrality. BALTIPLAST project’s training opportunities for local authorities were also highlighted in the Networking village – transfer activities there are coordinated by UBC Sustainable Cities too, so you can subscribe to our newsletter to get all the latest updates about these materials.
Security on the agenda
This year, the theme of the forum was: Sustainability – Resilience – Security. While environmental sustainability was the topic of many parallel sessions, all plenary sessions focused on security and resilience in the region. The approaches were diverse, touching e.g. food security, safety of transport systems, energy security and civil preparedness. In these times of uncertainty, the speakers and audience shared an understanding of the importance of preparing society for different crises, including war, attacks on critical infrastructure, or environmental crises.
Support to Ukraine was prominent in the Forum (there were over 50 invited participants from Ukraine), and many of them contributed to the resilience and security discussions. Ukrainian first responders also showcased their work to the participants during the breaks, offering the possibility to test first aid skills in a staged military attack aftermath situation.
Many speakers stressed that the key to preparedness is cooperation. Even the military cannot work alone – they need the support of the civil society and local authorities as the energy and food production relies on the private sector. City administration is in a crucial position in the implementation of measures protecting citizens, and collaboration between BSR countries is essential. Learning from best practices and weak points of other countries is key to building a successful preparedness system.
“In order to strengthen the preparedness of the society for crises, go and meet other experts in the Baltic Sea Region. Talk a little, listen a lot”
— Margo Klaos, Director General of the Estonian Rescue Board
We warmly thank the wonderful UBC member Region Gotland and the City of Visby for organising this exceptional EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Annual Forum!
On the photo: representatives of the UBC Sustainable, Planning, and Safe Cities Commissions.