The BALTADAPT project (Baltic Sea Region Climate Change Adaptation Strategy) seeks to provide joint transnational solutions to address the sustainable management of the Baltic Sea in the context of climate change. The overall aim of the project is the development of a Baltic Sea Region wide strategy on climate change adaptation by improving the knowledge base and providing the operational basis for implementation of such a strategy through an action plan.

The Baltic Sea Region (BSR) countries are all threatened and concerned by climate change. There are good experiences of adaptation in the region but they are somehow fragmented and mostly do not acknowledge the fact that the Baltic Sea is a specific eco-region. The EU BSR Strategy recognizes this problem by calling for a BSR-wide climate change adaptation strategy, which should provide a framework to strengthen cooperation and information sharing within the region and help to create a coherent set of adaptation policies and actions from the transnational to the local level.

BALTADAPT seeks to develop such a BSR-wide climate change adaptation strategy. This truly transnational strategy will focus on the sea itself and its coastline. While it is understood that such a strategy cannot be adopted by BALTADAPT, the project can ensure its preparation and clear the ground for its adoption. Complementing this main output, the project seeks to achieve the following results:

• Improved knowledge base: A knowledge brokerage process between political decision makers and researchers leading to improved institutional capacity. The "Baltic Window" in the EU Clearinghouse shall be the contact point for decision makers from the Baltic Sea Region.
• Action plan: Providing the operational basis for implementing the BSR-wide Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and influencing policies, programmes and regulations. Together with the action plan, recommendations on funding mechanisms for financing climate change adaptation initiatives shall be given.

The project is funded by the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013. Lead partner is the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). The partner consortium of in total 11 partners brings a mixture of federal policy institutions dealing with the topic of climate change adaptation and research institutions with the proper expertise in climate change science. The Ecologic Institute is subcontractor of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and therefore responsible for the development of the Action Plan. It also contributes to the development of a stakeholder participation process and a BSR-wide policy forum.