GO4BALTIC

GO4BALTIC will examine coherence between the international marine policy governing the Baltic Sea and national environmental policies in the Baltic Sea countries, including aquatic, agricultural and climate mitigation policies. The aim of the project is to identify how these policies can be reformed at international and national levels to provide coherence and synergies. Coherence of policies across environmental targets, governmental levels, sectors, countries and regions will be analysed. Implications for policy objectives, policy instrument choice and implementation, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability of the means for managing the Baltic Sea ecosystems are examined.

Among the different sectors which affect the ecological status of the Baltic Sea, the agricultural sector is of particular importance because of its role for both eutrophication and climate change, in combinations with the challenges to design appropriate policy instruments. Coherence, synergies and conflicts in objectives, policy incentives, effects and outcomes will be studied by interdisciplinary modelling as well as specific economic and policy analyses using data on existing policy implementation and outcomes. The potential for socially beneficial policy improvements will be analysed using agricultural, game-theoretic, and ecological-economic catchment modelling tools, and the results will be synthesised in recommendations for a socioeconomic Baltic Sea action plan.