Civil Security

The CREWS project addresses the urgent need for enhanced disaster risk reduction capacities in the Baltic Sea Region. By leveraging the potential of civil society in disaster scenarios, CREWS empowers local communities and bridges the gap between formal and informal actors in disaster management.

CREWS fosters transnational cooperation and knowledge exchange to develop a joint collaboration mechanism for public players and civil society actors, adaptable to regional needs. The project outputs include a collaboration model and a digital tool that facilitate effective coordination between public authorities and civil actors. By enhancing resilience and optimising disaster risk reduction capacities, CREWS promotes a whole-of-society approach to crisis management.

In an effort to address the persistent threat posed by dumped munitions in the Baltic Sea and the Skagerrak, the MUNIMAP project, or Baltic Sea Munition Remediation Roadmap, embarks on a crucial mission to activate, speed up and coordinate the Baltic Sea munitions remediation.

Based on the outcomes of previous successful Interreg projects dealing with dumped munitions, MUNIMAP aims to catalyse, accelerate, and coordinate national processes.

MUNI-RISK, or Mitigation of Risks Due to Submerged Munitions for a Sustainable Development of the Baltic Sea, is an EU-funded project focused on tackling the risks from old munitions lying on the seabed in the Baltic Sea.

These munitions in the sea, remnants of past conflicts such as the Second World War, pose environmental and safety risks that need to be carefully managed.

MUNI-RISK brings together scientists and practitioners to find solutions that support safe maritime activities, such as fishing, and responsible marine resource development, including building offshore wind farms. By the end of the MUNI-RISK project, countries around the Baltic Sea will have practical tools and guidelines to safely manage munitions risks.

Razom, which means “together” in Ukrainian, is a transnational collaborative project that aims to support European cohesion and Ukraine’s ambitions to widen its network and work more closely with European institutions. It will do so by enhancing knowledge and capacity, identifying areas for improvement, sharing experiences and good practices, discussing common challenges, and providing strategy and policy recommendations.

Secure Kids project strengthens the sustainability and impact of child participation mechanisms in decision-making processes at both national and local levels with a specific focus on decisions and action to build safe and secure societies, including their resilience and ability to prevent, prepare, respond, and adapt to different types of hazards and emergencies.

Needs-based Education and Studies in Societal Security (NEEDS) project aims to strengthen the quality, attractiveness, and scope of education in societal security through tackling the mismatches between the focus of education, and the knowledge needs of the field. The objective of NEEDS is to better prepare the next generation tasked to work in the field of societal security by boosting their educational experiences with the most relevant, field-specific, and up-to-date knowledge and skills.

Pan-Baltic Cross-Sectoral Innovation in Societal Security (BALTinnoSEC) project aims to investigate the feasibility of an interface, connecting civil security actors in constellations, focused on tackling risks, specific to the BSR. The interface is envisioned as a problem-solving platform or forum for regular off- and online meetings of practitioners, researchers and business, thus sharing access to the latest management solutions and technologies, cutting costs and time for all involved.

Volunteers and Local Authorities – Baltic Sea Region Network (VOALA) is a transnational project that aims to enhance society’s resilience to natural and man-made disasters. More specifically the project maximises the effectiveness and enhance international practical cooperation and joint preparedness among authorities, volunteer organisations and citizens in the field of civil protection; and clarifies and strengthens the role/mission of volunteers in national legislation, plans and operational procedures and to improve the overall coordination of volunteers.

The project supports the Policy Area Secure Coordinators (PAC) in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities. The goal of PA Secure is to build a common societal security culture in the BSR to enable developing common capacities for strengthening societal security and reducing vulnerabilities in coping with transboundary challenges. PA Secure aims to strengthen civil protection capacities to jointly manage cases of major cross-border emergencies that could cause severe effects on society. It supports also enhancing capabilities to combat malicious threats, particularly those related to THB and violating children’s rights.

The overall aim of the Baltic Excellence Programme (BEP), organised every year by the CBSS CPN Presidency, is to enhance the capacity of civil protection and law enforcement organisations. These goals are achieved by engaging experts, who hold a key to strategic leadership positions at the local, regional and national levels. The programmes offer unique opportunities for the participants to share experiences and best practices among peers, acquire new knowledge and enhance leadership skills through the combination of theory and practice. The participation in the course also increases institutional knowledge and strengthens the ties between the agencies playing a central role in crisis management in the BSR.

The goal of the SAFE-BS2BKS project is to transfer and implement the most effective and safe techniques used in the Baltic Sea for managing underwater munitions in the Black Sea region, with a strong focus on environmental security and the sustainability of marine ecosystems, especially in protected areas.

The project leader H9 (the EU and the Contracting Parties to HELCOM that are also Member States of the EU) will leverage its macro-regional network to foster discussions and organize key stakeholder dialogue and workshops. This will provide a substantial input for HELCOM BSAP action S34 while ensuring cross-sectoral multidisciplinary outreach and knowledge transfer to the Black Sea region and Ukraine in particular. Activities will apply proven Baltic methods for assessing and mitigating hazards from submerged munitions, integrating them into marine monitoring and climate adaptation strategies.

Special care will be taken in environmentally protected and sensitive marine areas where sea-dumped munitions can harm biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Black Sea stakeholders will gain essential expertise through this exchange of knowledge and training. The project will develop an Action Plan with recommendations and an outline of future actions for the safe management of unexploded ordnances in the Black Sea, ensuring structured and coordinated marine environmental protection and risk management.

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB has a strong engagement in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) and since many years back the member of the CBSS Civil Protection Network (CPN). In addition to that from 2013, based on the Swedish government decision, MSB coordinates the Policy Area Secure (PA Secure) within the EU:s Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The crisis communication is one of the CPN and PA Secure prioritised cooperation area. This project will be implemented in a close partnership with the civil protection authorities in the BSR and will give the opportunity to intensify and increase our common efforts to make the BSR a safe region to live in.

Communication before and during crisis is one of the most important tools to build preparedness for and handle crisis – regardless if the current crisis is due to the consequences of a war in a nearby country or caused by climate change. People who are prepared and know how to act when the crisis comes are more safe and secure.

Communication to the public also contributes to regional identity and in the long run to sustainability since people get the tools to make the right decisions – before and during crisis.

Directly related to the current call ‘Safe and Secure Region’ focusing on promoting better preparedness for an increasingly unstable security environment, through inter-regional cooperation of the northern Baltic, central Baltic, and southern Baltic disaster preparedness experts. Project will promote expert cooperation across the region and establish a regional emerging threat and best-practice exchange platform for sharing practical approaches to increasing preparedness in the population. Concerns and current preparedness level of the Finnish, Latvian, and German population will be established. Results and best-practice approaches will be shared with the national governments and structures responsible for disaster preparedness, as well as the population, and disaster preparedness experts in other Baltic countries to promote a coordinated regional response. Consultations will advise national governments on emerging risks, regional trends, and practical solutions to increase awareness and resilience. Concerns and shortcomings will be used to promote a joint approach to these issues to increase cooperation among the CBSS Member States. Addresses 2022 Oslo Declaration on Regional Cooperation in the Civil Protection Network, CBSS Vilnius II Declaration, CBSS Action plan 2021-2025, where political commitments were made to promote regional cooperation in civil protection, in preparing and responding to emergencies, and UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

Baltic Youth for Resilient Society (BYFORES) aims to enhance resilience to natural and man-made disasters by strengthening inclusive, cross-sectoral cooperation between authorities and volunteer organisations in crisis management in the Baltic Sea Region with a special focus on youth engagement. The project looks into the role that young people can play in managing and coping with disaster risks and reducing vulnerability through capacity building, education, and awareness raising.

The project investigates how women’s safety has changed during the pandemic and provides the target groups with the knowledge, strategies, and methodologies needed to tackle this social issue and efficiently support survivors of violence. Furthermore, the project will represent a safe place for women, a chance to feel free to cultivate their interests and share their feelings.

Project “DE-PL-LT to Crises by creating a system of modern training as well as professional qualifications for civil protection educators” aims to enable citizens to raise individual competences, to create a system of modern training, as well as professional qualifications for educators in the field of civil protection.

The project aims at developing an appropriate communication plan which can provide a quick response to the current crisis and future emergency situations by disseminating relevant information among migrant communities. It also seeks to strengthen cooperation between the states of the Baltic Sea Region to deal with cross-border crisis. The project analyses the multilingual information provided during the COVID-19 crisis by stakeholders from different sectors (governmental institutions, companies, universities, NGOs and media) in Estonia, Finland and Latvia; and carries out a cross-national comparative study to identify a series of good practices which serve as the basis to suggest new strategies in translation policies. The resulting guidelines will contribute to a faster recovery from the current crisis and address future emergency situations in the Baltic Sea Region.