Kalliomäki at Baltic Sea and the European Marine Strategy Conference

Although this is the concluding session I would still at this stage like to wish you warmly welcome to the Conference. It is a pleasure for me to see you all gathered to discuss this important topic - "Baltic Sea and the European Marine Strategy". I hope that you are already on the path of promoting the linking of science with policy, which is one of the aims of the Conference.

As this Conference is a major event during the Finnish EU presidency I would like to start by a few words on the presidency. Finland's top priority in research policy is to successfully conclude the negotiations on the EU's Seventh Research Framework Programme. We have been working hard, and now it seems very likely that the Programme can start at the beginning of 2007.

One important focus area during our presidency is improving European competitiveness. The term "competitiveness" does not, however, mean competitiveness at any cost, regardless of the consequences. In this connection it is of vital importance to stress sustainable development and our common environment including the Seas. The fact that this Conference is now taking place serves to prove the importance of the Baltic Sea and its protection and well-being in the future.

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It has often been said that the Baltic Sea is the most studied sea in the whole world and it is probably true. But interdisciplinary research, including both ecological and socio-economic considerations is internationally a relatively new approach and in its infancy within Baltic Sea research.

However, understanding the mechanisms and ways how human beings utilize marine resources directly or indirectly is essential. Close collaboration between natural scientists, economists and sosiologists is important to get qualified information about the value of the environment.

There is a timely societal demand for interdisplinary research concerning the Baltic Sea. This is clearly manifested in the ongoing process of developing a European Maritime Policy and Marine Environment Strategy.

It states that the management of human activities impacting the marine environment must have an ecosystem-based approach. This is a major challenge to the Baltic Sea scientific community and will no doubt affect Baltic Sea research in the future.

This Conference has taken a step in that direction. It has introduced the main challenges which the Baltic Sea faces, and presented solutions how these challenges should be dealt with. How do we reconcile human activities and ecosystems? What actions have already been taken and what actions should be taken in order to link science and policy?

Our scientific knowledge of ecosystems and processes is increasing, and this reinforces the need for continuous communication between scientists and policy-makers. The speakers at this conference represent different fields of education, science, management, business, administration, and media. And, you, Conference participants, coming from different fields and sectors, have hopefully not only gained valuable, fresh information but also contributed to the important and necessary cross-sectoral dialogue.

It is not only science and policy that have to be linked together. I also wish to draw attention to the importance of education, which is an essential part of sustainable development.

Sustainable development has to be integrated into education at all levels, through formal as well as informal education opportunities. It is important to note that we are now in the midst of the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development declared for the years 2005 to 2014.

Within education for sustainable development there is also a need for interdisciplinary cooperation. The Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region adopted in 1996 by the Prime Ministers of the Baltic Sea countries is a broadly based regional programme and an example of how different approaches are combined in a coherent way.

The long history of collaboration, high status of scientific information and economically stable societies, give the Baltic Sea region good prerequisites for serving as a pilot area for efficient protection and restoration of the marine environment in a holistic manner.

The necessary political and scientific mechanisms for collaboration already exist. Mechanisms for funding collaboration are also of great importance. These mechanisms are being developed under the initiative BONUS for the Baltic Sea Science – Network of Funding Agencies.

Thus the major challenge is a cross-sectoral approach. It means involving new paradigms and structures in policy-making and administration as well as in research and research funding at all levels: individual, organisational, institutional, national, regional and European. This cross-sectoral approach is what the European Maritime Policy and the Marine Environment Strategy is calling for.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I sincerely hope that this Conference will make its contibution in answering to this call. I wish you all a successful conclusion to the Conference.