Steps for Nature – Restoration voices from the Baltic Sea region

Prefer listening on the go? This episode is also available on Spotify.

Welcome to Steps for Nature, a podcast mini-series exploring nature restoration in the Baltic Sea region. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be speaking with people working hands-on with restoration projects across different ecosystems, from forests and peatlands to rivers and seagrass beds.

The Baltic Sea region includes a wide range of ecosystems, from inland forests and rivers to wetlands, coastal environments, and the sea itself. Many of these areas are under pressure from human activity and a changing climate, from eutrophication in marine areas to the drainage of wetlands and loss of forest habitats.

Healthy ecosystems not only provide habitat for plants and animals, it also helps mitigate climate change and buffer climate impacts while supporting well-being, food systems, and sustainable economies. In light of this, restoration aims to support the recovery of natural environments that have been degraded or damaged by addressing the causes of degradation and allowing natural processes to recover.

Through these conversations, we hope to bring listeners closer to what restoration looks like in practice, and to the people behind it, from local initiatives to larger cross-border collaborations. Along the way, we’ll explore themes such as working with local communities, sharing knowledge across disciplines, adapting to a changing climate, and balancing nature and livelihoods.

New episodes are released weekly in the lead-up to Baltic Sea Day on 27 August. Whether you’re a young person looking for inspiration to get involved, or simply curious about how nature restoration is taking shape across the region, this podcast is for you.