The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most threatened marine ecosystems. The WWF/RSA partnership is working to ensure it is protected and managed in an ecologically sensitive manner.

The largest brackish (a mixture of salt and fresh water) marine ecosystem in the world, the Baltic Sea is home to saltwater species from the adjoining Atlantic and freshwater species from over 200 rivers that empty into it.

The Baltic Sea is home to marine mammals such as Baltic ringed seals and harbour porpoises. Fish species include cod, herring and salmon. Tens of millions of migratory birds stop in the Baltic twice a year, including the Arctic tern, divers and long-tailed duck.

The Baltic Sea is important for people too. In summer many sail and swim there, while in winter the northern part of the Baltic freezes and becomes a busy byway for cars.

The Baltic Sea is particularly sensitive, being brackish, shallow and cold. Its only connection to the Atlantic is through the narrow Danish Straits, so the exchange of water is limited. That means pollutants and organic matter entering the Baltic remain there for an average of 30 years.

The vulnerable Baltic Sea faces increasing threats from shipping, overfishing, pollution and climate change. The WWF/RSA partnership is working on all fronts to mitigate these dangers, making sure the region is sustainably used while minimising risk to business and the environment.

The Baltic Ecoregion Programme is committed to promoting the need for, and benefits of, a more integrated approach to the planning and management of the Baltic Sea. This approach is something called Integrated Sea Use Management, which provides a strategic, integrated and forward-looking framework to help achieve both sustainable development and nature conservation.

• The Programme aims to establish Integrated Sea Use Management in the Baltic Sea by 2015 which would include all countries, sectors and relevant stakeholders in a holistic, cross-sectoral and ecosystem-based approach.
• The Baltic Sea is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, exporting oil from Russia and the Baltic states. The Baltic Ecoregion Programme is working to ensure that by 2015 shipping will have a minimal impact on the marine environment and be operating in a sustainable manner.
• We’re working with governments, consumers and the fishing industry with the aim to secure the long-term sustainability of fish stocks and a healthy ecosystems in the Baltic Sea by 2015.
• We’re endeavouring to reduce the overload of nutrients released into the water – known as eutrophication – which can increase the production of algae, including large-scale toxic algal blooms. It can also cause oxygen deficiency over large areas.
• These nutrients mainly come from farming. The WWF/RSA partnership is promoting good practice in agriculture, regulation of EU subsidies and the restoration of wetlands to act as a natural filter to pollution. Through this work, WWF aims to to dramatically reduce the amount of nutrients being discharged into the Baltic Sea to ensure that the Baltic Sea is protected from excessive eutrophication by 2030.
• The Programme is looking at how we can make the Baltic Sea’s species and ecosystems more resistant to the threats of climate change.