Background
The close interaction of people, nature and industrial activities in an exceptionally fragile and vulnerable ecosystem has been a typical feature for the northern Baltic Sea region already for centuries and millenniums. The societies in the region are highly developed and the amount of natural resources in proportion to the number of inhabitants is high, fore example, the annual growth of forests per capita in Finland and Sweden is among the highest in the world. Water ways and the sea have been the unifying factor though out time, from the era of the Vikings to today’s mass tourism and maritime freight transport. The costal areas of the northern Baltic Sea is home not only to the population and educational and cultural institutions, but also a vast chemical and process industry as well as shipbuilding and machinery industries. Examples include oil refining (there are several oil refineries in the region, among others NesteOil, Nynäs), production of fine and specialty chemicals as well as pharmaceuticals (Cobb, Forchem, Arizona Chemicals, PCAS Finland, Borealis Polymers, Orion Pharma, Örnsköldsvik biorefinery, Sunpinen biodiesel refinery in Piteå, Kemira, Akzo-Nobel) the forest industry (UPM, Holmen, Stora-Enso, MoDo, Chempolis), the food industry (Raisio Oyj), shipbuilding (STX) and machinery (Wartsila). Today, the goal of these industries is an eco-friendly, sustainable production, which is based in an increasing degree on the use of renewable and recyclable raw materials.