Finnish Environment Institute presents three commitments to safeguard ocean and seas

The ocean and marine areas are under considerable change and impacted by multitude of threats, which influence the vitality and health of the seas on a planetary scale. The previous UN 2022 Ocean Conference declared the immense value of the ocean supporting the climate system, water cycle and biodiversity of the planet. The 2025 UN Ocean Conference aims at accelerating the action and mobilizing all actors to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: “Conserve and sustainably use the ocean, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”.

The Finnish Environment Institute has developed tools and methods to evaluate the effects of nutrient and pollutant discharges, establish an ecologically effective network of marine protected areas, design actions for restoring marine habitats, and set environmental targets.

Syke supports decision-making aimed at improving the management and protection of the Baltic Sea environment, and participates in research, policy development, and multilateral cooperation across European seas and beyond, including in the Arctic, Africa, and Asia. We contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goal 14.

Enabling excellent marine science and facilitating dialogue between science, policy, and society

The Finnish Environment Institute coordinates the Finnish Marine Research Infrastructure, FINMARI, which integrates all national providers of marine research services, and enables international cutting-edge science to address the issues facing marine ecosystems globally. FINMARI´s focus is on challenges in the Baltic Sea: biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change, green transition, and marine safety and security.

The FINMARI commitments by 2029 are:

• Enabling high-impact marine science by providing access to state-of-the-art research facilities and data, and by utilizing the interoperability and synergies of the consortium partnership. This supports ocean-related scientific cooperation and knowledge.
• Educating marine topics at all levels of society, including citizens, students, young scientists and technicians. It creates and supports career paths in marine research, communication, and RI management, contributing to capacity-building and education.
• Developing and maintaining internal, national, and international marine research collaborations and networks, fostering marine technology and strengthening the science-policy interface for ocean health.

Inventories of marine biodiversity support protection and sustainable use of marine areas

The Finnish Environment Institute works to conserve marine biodiversity and promote the sustainable use of natural resources in Finland’s marine and coastal regions. Since 2004, we have provided coordination and scientific leadership for the Finnish Inventory Programme for Underwater Marine Diversity  (Velmu, by its Finnish acronym). The Velmu biodiversity database contains data from over 200,000 sites and offers detailed information on underwater habitats and species in Finnish marine waters. The programme also provides comprehensive spatial data on human-induced pressures across the entire Finnish sea area.

Our commitment builds on the work carried out under Velmu and the Biodiversea LIFE IP – For Marine Nature project (2021-2029). The tangible deliverables of the commitment are:

• a roadmap and action plan to develop Finland’s marine protected area (MPA) network, aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the EU Biodiversity Strategy, aiming to protect 30% of ocean and marine areas by 2030
• the first map of underwater noise to support MPA network development and management plans
• a novel monitoring system to detect changes in marine biodiversity and assess the ecological effectiveness of the MPA network.

Integrated Source-to-Sea modeling of the Baltic Sea

The third commitment focuses on further development and applications of Source-to-Sea (S2S) modeling and assessment framework, designed to support planning and implementation of science-based measures for the remediation of coastal waters. It captures the full continuum from inland catchments to coastal waters and supports national and regional authorities in decision-making.

The commitment is based on the work in several collaborative projects. The deliverables of the commitment are:

• evaluation of the effects and future scenarios for nutrient load reductions, following the recommendations of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan
• integration of the national coastal nutrient loading model to the European Digital Twin of the Ocean Model Lab, enabling researchers, planners and policymakers to analyse data, run models, and examine connected scenarios from physics to socio-ecology
• improving the compatibility of existing modelling systems to better predict rapidly changing situations and new threats from shifting geopolitical and environmental conditions, climate change, or increased nutrient runoff from catchment areas and to help national authorities to be prepared for different type of incidents
• identification and planning of the optimal locations for fish farms in coastal waters, aiming to minimize their environmental impact.

Links to the commitments of the Finnish Environment Institute:

• Enabling excellent marine science and facilitating dialogue between the science and policy-makers in Finland – FINMARI Finnish Marine Research Infrastructure (sdgs.un.org)
• Conservation of marine nature and promotion of the sustainable use of natural resources in the marine and coastal regions of Finland (sdgs.un.org)
• Source-to-sea integrated modelling framework for planning and executing science-based measures and actions for remediation of coastal waters (sdgs.un.org)