Securing the Baltic Sea’s built seascapes
Collaboration and stronger data governance are needed to balance innovation, security, and long‑term sustainability
ANALYSIS | The Baltic Sea is transforming. Once defined by natural marine ecosystems and traditional maritime activities, it is now evolving into a built seascape, a marine environment increasingly shaped by human infrastructure. Offshore wind farms, subsea cables and digital monitoring systems are expanding rapidly, driven by the need for renewable energy, improved digital connectivity and enhanced security (Paolo et al. 2024). These changes bring significant opportunities and present complex challenges that demand new governance, co-operation and security approaches.
A paradox lies at the heart of this transformation; while offshore infrastructure is essential for economic growth and sustainability, it is also highly vulnerable. Recent incidents of sabotage, cyberattacks and political tensions have highlighted the risks of critical offshore systems. Additionally, the technologies shaping these built seascapes often serve a defence and civilian purpose. The question is how to balance innovation, security and environmental protection while ensuring that governance keeps pace with rapid technological advancements.
Human activity in marine environments has always been a source of promise—as well as risk, but today’s built seascapes represent a fundamental shift. Temporary interactions such as fishing and shipping can impact aquatic ecosystems and even disturb the seabed. Still, offshore wind farms and subsea infrastructure represent human presence at sea by adding (semi-)permanent constructions to the marine environment. This requires a different form of long-term planning, maintenance and protection. In the EU, this transformation is particularly evident as countries invest in offshore energy production to strengthen energy security and meet climate goals, which aligns with RePower EU, the EU’s plan to end its reliance on fossil fuels. However, this growing reliance on offshore systems also introduces new risks.
One of the most pressing concerns is the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. The damage to subsea gas pipelines and communication cables in recent years has exposed the fragility of these networks. The Baltic Sea, surrounded by multiple countries (some with competing interests) is a region where infrastructure security is increasingly under scrutiny. Offshore wind farms could contribute to clean energy production, but they also raise concerns about data security, navigation safety and international tensions. Addressing these risks requires approaches that integrate security measures without hindering innovation.
Data and technology are at the core of ensuring resilient seascapes. Offshore wind farms, subsea cables and digital sensors generate vast amounts of data, which can be used for energy management, environmental monitoring and maritime safety. For instance, real-time ocean monitoring can optimise shipping routes, track climate change impacts and detect potential security threats. However,
the benefits of this data depend on how effectively they are shared and managed.
Much of the data collected from offshore infrastructure remain siloed within specific industries or state agencies. While energy companies monitor turbine performance and subsea cables, defence agencies track underwater movements, and environmental researchers study marine biodiversity, these datasets are rarely integrated. A more collaborative approach in which stakeholders share critical insights, while maintaining necessary security restrictions, could enhance economic efficiency and regional security.
However, this integration is not without challenges. Many technologies used in built seascapes have dual-use capabilities, meaning they can serve both civilian and military purposes (Vaynman & Volpe, 2023). For example, surveillance systems designed for offshore energy operations could also be used to track naval activity, raising concerns about data access and national security. Finding the right balance between open data exchange and necessary restrictions will be crucial for future governance.
Governance is at the center of the built-seascape debate. As a semi-enclosed space where there are multiple foreign-policy interests to consider, the Baltic Sea presents unique governance challenges. International agreements such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea provide a legal framework, but they do not fully address the complexities of offshore digital infrastructure, cybersecurity and the integration of civilian and defence technologies.
A key challenge is ensuring that governance keeps pace with technological change, particularly as the expansion of offshore infrastructure brings both opportunity and risk. For instance, the rise of wind farms in the Baltic Sea presents an energy-security advantage. However, their integration with subsea communication cables and surveillance networks raises concerns about cybersecurity threats and international conflict (Bueger & Liebetrau, 2021). Similarly, the dual-use nature of maritime technologies, such as autonomous underwater drones used for both environmental monitoring and naval reconnaissance, complicates regulatory oversight (Vaynman & Volpe, 2023).
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Policymakers, industry leaders and academics must work together to develop regulations that encourage innovation while safeguarding critical infrastructure. Regional co-operation among Baltic Sea states will be essential to address these challenges, as demonstrated by Sweden and Finland’s long-standing collaboration on icebreaker operations and digital navigation safety (Boström & Österman, 2017). Additionally, Nato’s increasing focus on hybrid threats in the region underscores the need for standardised security protocols and co-ordinated response strategies (Liebetrau & Bueger, 2024). By establishing shared frameworks for data governance, risk mitigation and cross-sectoral collaboration, states can enhance both economic resilience and national security in this rapidly evolving seascape.
Public-private partnerships can also play a crucial role in strengthening the resilience of built seascapes. Energy companies, maritime industries and research institutions are already investing in advanced monitoring systems and AI-driven analytics to enhance infrastructure security.
For example, offshore wind operators have tested the integration of surveillance sensors into wind turbine networks, allowing them to detect vessel movements and underwater disturbances, thereby contributing to both energy security and maritime situational awareness (OX2 2024). Similarly, Nato’s Maritime Command has explored collaborating with civilian outfits to improve subsea infrastructure monitoring, leveraging data from commercial sensor networks and AI-driven threat-detection tools (Willet, 2025). The use of federated data-sharing models that make it possible to selectively access environmental and security data without compromising sensitive information, represents another promising area of co-operation (Trice et al., 2021). By working together, these stakeholders can create more resilient systems that benefit economic development and environmental sustainability, ensuring that offshore infrastructure remains secure and operational in an increasingly complex political landscape.
Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue (C2B2) (Wehn et al., 2023) is a Swedish research programme that experiments with living labs to let stakeholders find effective governance solutions in the increasingly crowded and contested marine space. The participants in the C2B2 LivingLab for Baltic Proper especially have to deal with rapidly evolving security realities.
The transformation of the Baltic Sea into a built seascape presents significant opportunities and new risks. Offshore energy production, digital connectivity and advanced monitoring systems are essential for economic growth and sustainability, but they also introduce security vulnerabilities that cannot be ignored. Effective governance, enhanced co-operation and strategic use of data will be key to ensuring that these built environments remain resilient and sustainable. Moving forward, policymakers, industries and academics must adopt a more integrated approach to managing built seascapes.
By strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration and improving data governance, we can navigate the challenges of this new maritime era—ensuring that the Baltic Sea remains a secure, thriving and sustainable maritime space for generations to come. Looking at past and present examples of multi-sector and civilian-military collaboration could help navigate the current international-affairs landscape.
Karina Barquet is the head of the Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue (C2B2) LivingLab East programme.
Hans Liwång is a professor at the Swedish Defence University.
Torsten Linders is a project co-ordinator with the University of Gothenburg.
Their research was financed by Mistra C2B.
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
THE BALTIC SEA in recent years has become a place where everything converges: climate goals, economic ambitions, environmental protection, fishing, shipping and—more and more—security. Offshore wind energy for Latvia is not just a story about “green” electricity. It is a choice about what kind of Baltic Sea we want to see: will it be a space for our energy independence, security and innovation, or a territory of disputes, concerns and uncertainty?
According to the latest insights from the LIAA survey, conducted in February in collaboration with the sociological research firm Norstat, there is already a solid foundation for a conversation about offshore wind-energy development.
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A convincing majority (70%) of the Latvian public considers the sea a suitable location for wind farms, and national energy independence remains a top priority (84%). In fact, the key question is no longer whether wind energy is beneficial, but rather how we can implement it safely and intelligently, ensuring that coastal residents and the country as a whole benefit from it.
Professionals also revisit this “how” once a year in dedicated discussions; for example, in the programme of the WindWorks 2026 conference, the security dimension was highlighted explicitly: how to protect critical energy infrastructure in the Baltics, and what to expect in terms of cybersecurity threats.
The planned Latvian-Estonian wind farm ELWIND is not an isolated object. It will become part of a system consisting of subsea cables, substations, communication solutions, maritime traffic safety monitoring, remote control, data exchange and many other components. In other words, it is a network of critical infrastructure whose vulnerability in Europe has, in recent years, become an open and publicly acknowledged fact.
That is precisely why tangible steps have already been taken at the European level to treat underwater infrastructure not merely as an engineering solution, but also as a significant security issue. In 2024, the European Commission published recommendations for the security of submarine cables, emphasising co-ordination, governance and funding measures to mitigate risks to these connections that are vital for global communications. Meanwhile, in 2023, NATO established the Critical Undersea Infrastructure Coordination Cell to strengthen co-operation with industry, promote the exchange of best practices and enhance defence capabilities.
Security is not an abstract concept in Latvia either. In April 2024, the energy ministers of eight Baltic Sea countries agreed the Vilnius Declaration, which provides for closer co-operation in strengthening the security of critical offshore energy infrastructure. This agreement was reached at a time when concerns in the region had increased over attacks and acts of sabotage, which have highlighted the vulnerability of infrastructure.
In the current context of geopolitical tension, energy security has shifted from a theoretical concept to a matter of everyday costs and resilience. Even minor disruptions in supply chains are enough for global price increases to impact inflation in Latvia. This is clearly reflected in the recent situation in the oil market. Crude oil prices have risen, while the European gas market remains volatile.
HOW DOES WIND ENERGY FIT INTO THIS CONTEXT?
In the event of unpredictable developments, imported fuel quickly becomes a significant risk to household budgets. Under these conditions, electrification and domestic renewable-energy sources take on strategic importance. The greater the share of consumption that can be shifted to electricity, and the more of it we produce ourselves (using wind, solar and other renewable resources), the less dependent we are on external disruptions, and the more stable and predictable energy bills become.
Excessive dependence on a limited number of electricity sources is a significant risk we cannot afford. Wind energy enables diversification of the energy-production structure; therefore, security and maritime spatial planning dimensions must be integrated from the very beginning of a project, rather than added later as an afterthought.
When designing such facilities, potential incident scenarios and response plans must be anticipated in advance, cybersecurity requirements should be included as a mandatory technical baseline, and maritime spatial planning must be carried out in a way that balances security and defence interests with the needs of energy, fisheries and environmental protection. With this approach, the ELWIND can become a reliable and resilient part of critical infrastructure.
Job creation, local business development, investment in infrastructure, as well as growth in science and research are among the most frequently cited benefits of offshore wind energy. Although approximately 70% of the population considers the sea a suitable location for wind-farm development, people still have questions about their potential impact on the landscape, biodiversity and restrictions on fishing, kitesurfing and shipping. Often, people’s perceptions are dominated by the image of wind turbines alone, rather than the broader scope of economic activity and overall benefits they can bring.
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The development of offshore wind creates opportunities for the emergence of new coastal industries and competencies. It encompasses a wide range of maritime-related activities—from energy production to the use of water resources and coastal tourism—while simultaneously fostering the development of new technologies, skills and services. From this perspective, offshore wind can become a significant platform that generates jobs in coastal areas and promotes innovation.
In Europe, this platform approach is increasingly manifesting as multi-functional solutions, for example, seaweed farming within wind farm zones. In the Netherlands, as part of the North Sea Farmers project at the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm, located approximately 18 kilometers offshore, commercial-scale seaweed cultivation has been established, while simultaneously researching biodiversity and carbon-sequestration opportunities. Meanwhile, the Ecowende wind farm, another Dutch project, is being created as one of the most environmentally friendly projects of its kind, where all activities and technical solutions are aligned with nature-conservation principles.
These examples lead to a vital conclusion: a wind farm is not a closed or restrictive zone; it can become a space for innovation, where research, services and coastal entrepreneurship develop simultaneously. In fact, it is part of the solution for preserving local communities and encouraging the younger generation to settle in coastal areas.
For Latvia, this perspective is particularly significant, as it offers coastal cities and ports the opportunity to transform from infrastructure peripheries into regional centers of competence. In practice, harnessing offshore wind energy means strengthening port capacities, developing logistics, vessel servicing, cable infrastructure, service and repair bases, as well as training opportunities. If this phase is not developed, the greatest added value flows elsewhere. Conversely, by developing it, coastal residents gain jobs, knowledge and business opportunities.
COEXISTENCE AT SEA
The survey mentioned above shows that public awareness in Latvia about wind-farm initiatives and energy-security issues is gradually increasing; however, a large part of the public still remains at the level of “I have heard about it” or “hard to say”. This lack of information creates fertile ground for rumour, resistance and politically motivated fluctuations during pre-election periods.
If we want to build an inspiring yet honest narrative, we must state clearly: ELWIND will only be successful if the discussion about it is framed in terms of security, economic development and public trust. To achieve this, simple and understandable principles are needed: fewer general slogans and more clear answers on the essentials (where the project will be located? why specifically there? what the benefits and risks will be? what compensation and benefit-sharing mechanisms are planned? and how nature and security protection will be ensured?)
Communication should follow an approach in which coastal residents are perceived as beneficiaries rather than obstacles. Latvia’s task is not to prove that wind energy is good; Latvia’s task is to demonstrate that it can be implemented safely, with added value for the economy, and through a process that the public can trust.
The author is the head of the ELWIND project division for the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA).
Originally published by LIAA.
THE BALTIC SEA region has built one of the world’s most interconnected and dynamic areas, bound together by trade, energy, digital infrastructure and a shared maritime environment. But the pressures bearing down on the region today require something more than connectivity. They require resilience.
Geopolitical tension on Europe’s eastern flank, accelerating climate stress on the Baltic Sea ecosystem, demographic shifts across the region and hybrid threats targeting critical infrastructure do not respect national borders. They cannot be solved by any single country, economic sector or level of government acting alone.
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Tallinn hosts the 17th EUSBSR Annual Forum on 11-13 May 2026 at Tallinn Creative Hub, bringing together over 500 policymakers, municipal representatives, researchers, businesspeople and civil-society representatives from across the Baltic Sea region to turn strategy into action. The aim of the Annual Forum is to translate regional co-operation into concrete action.
Resilience in this context means more than crisis response or military preparedness, though both matter. It means energy systems robust enough to withstand disruption, transport and digital networks that hold under pressure, economies competitive enough to attract investment and talent and institutions trusted enough that societies stay coherent when tested. It also means coastal and marine ecosystems healthy enough to sustain the communities that depend on them. As Tõnis Nirk, chair of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region National Co-ordinators Group, has put it: resilience in the Baltic Sea region means more than withstanding shocks—it means thriving through them by building the capacity to adapt and collaborate in an era where crises are becoming the new normal.
Cities and regions sit at the centre of all of this. When a crisis hits, whether a flood, a cyberattack or a supply-chain collapse, it is local and regional authorities that respond first. They manage infrastructure, deliver essential services and maintain the community trust that resilience depends on. Their co-operation across the Baltic Sea region is not peripheral. It is foundational.
CO-OPERATION AS THE ANSWER
This is also where the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region demonstrates its purpose. Since 2009, the strategy has connected policies, funding programmes and stakeholders across countries and sectors, turning individual projects into long-term solutions. The newly updated Action Plan (2026, pending European Commission approval), the result of over 100 ministries, national agencies and EU institutions working toward a shared roadmap, reflects a clear shift: member states have placed resilience at the centre of transnational co-operation in the Baltic Sea region.
The experience of 17 years of co-operation shows that the better the region works together across borders, levels and sectors, the stronger it becomes. That is not a platitude. It is the architecture behind a strategy that has shaped how eight EU member states address their most complex shared challenges.
The author is the International PR and Global Visibility Co-ordinator for the city of Tallinn.
Originally published by the city of Tallinn.
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