News for topic Water

Interreg Baltic Sea Region launched the new programme to shape the future of the Baltic Sea Region. In 2021–2027, transnational cooperation is particularly targeted at cities in the region – and we take a moment to recognize active project cooperation by UBC member cities!

The report of 2021 looks into another successful year of UBC-CDP cooperation, as we follow the paths of 21 UBC member cities to climate goals 2030.

While the EU’s policies over the years have led to significant progress in improving the environment, and in raising standards across the EU Member States, many environmental challenges still prevail. With more than 70% of the EU’s population currently living in urban areas, cities are critical to meeting the EU's environmental objectives and in helping the EU to become a more sustainable region.

Over 3 years of implementation, BSR WATER platform provided significant input into the regional policies. The variety of produced results can also be used by different regional stakeholders, including practitioners in the water sector.

This publication was developed within the platform project BSR WATER as one of its key outputs. The report was prepared by the project partner Riga City Council with support from BSR WATER partners, and it is based on the surveys and interviews with 25 cities from 10 countries around the Baltic Sea. The cities that contributed to the survey – many of those UBC members!

City as a sponge

NonHazCity Plastic Diet – Plastics and the Hidden Threat to your Health

To address this issue, on 16 February 2021 we organized a workshop "Pathways to targeted PFAS removal – from policy to technology" to discuss the approaches to PFAS removal, joined by 50 participants. The workshop was held by the seed project EMPEREST that focuses on the current situation and viable solutions regarding sources and pathways of PFAS in the Baltic Sea region.

Exchange of experience – this request always appears when an expert community begins to assess the needs of a sector. All organizations accumulate knowledge, but how to ensure its continuous exchange to give it volume and perspective? Transnational projects can be one of the answers here, providing examples of effective institutional capacity building, novel technologies implemented in the region and efficient low-cost solutions.

Awareness and environmental education is getting a primary role as a measure to mitigate littering of the marine environment as a consequence of coastal tourism and public recreation. It’s been recognized as an appropriate tool to raise public awareness and attract attention to the problem, inspiring new actors, e.g. local authorities, to join the measures to prevent littering of the marine environment.

Reuse and recovery of phosphorus from wastewater explored in the BSR WATER platform. One of the main outputs of the BSR WATER is the “Pallet of solutions for nutrient recycling in the Baltic Sea region”, foreseen as an integral part of the HELCOM Regional Nutrient Recycling Strategy.

The 10th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region was organized in the beautiful Polish Baltic Frederic Chopin Philharmonic in Gdansk, Poland, on June 12th to 13th. The theme of this year’s forum was demographic changes along with the circular and shared economy – the discussions were, in other words, timely and important for the development of the BSR!