Fisheries, aquaculture, agriculture, food and forestry
The Nordic prime ministers share a vision – by 2030 the Nordic region will be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world. Achieving this requires close political cooperation. Nordic cooperation has to address a number of problems, including geopolitical tension close to our part of the world, the climate crisis, threats to biodiversity and the environment, the digital revolution, an ageing population and poor well-being among young people, all of which call for measures to secure the future of our societies.
The Nordic region has proved more than once that it can be stronger when it thinks collectively and works comprehensively. That is the starting point for the 14 new cooperation programmes that will drive the Nordic Council of Ministers' intergovernmental work in 2025-2030.
The 14 sectoral programmes share a common goal, clear priorities and focused initiatives. They take account of business, research, civil society and young people, and not least of the inter-parliamentary work carried out by the Nordic Council. Together they deliver the three strategic priorities set out in Vision 2030: “a green Nordic region”, “a competitive Nordic region” and “a socially sustainable Nordic region”.
The sectors under the remit of the Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Agriculture, Food and Forestry (MR-FJLS) are extremely important for the Nordic countries and for Nordic cooperation. Our vision for 2030 is grounded in the priorities of Nordic cooperation, namely working in the interests of a green, competitive and socially sustainable Nordic region.
The green transition towards sustainable use of resources is the central consideration in how we produce food and manage our natural wealth in the Nordic region, and not only with future generations in mind. Economic sustainability, in turn, shows how important competitiveness is in securing concrete future prospects for our sectors. It is a precondition for continuous productivity growth and for food security for our populations. Social sustainability is built into every part of the food chain – from the right to safe, wholesome and nutritious food through to the education programmes and career opportunities we want to offer those applying for work in the various FJLS sectors.
Our societies are challenged by a number of crises, from extreme weather and other consequences of climate change to the threat of war in our wider region or the emergence of future pandemics. As we work to strengthen our preparedness and build resilience in the Nordic region, we can clearly see the central role of the FJLS sectors. Within this cooperation programme we set out the key areas that can help deliver greater sustainability and resilience in the years ahead, in times of both peace and crisis. Together we are stronger than we are apart, and we look forward to jointly delivering the goals and sub-goals we have set out in this MR-FJLS cooperation programme for 2025-2030.
The MR-FJLS cooperation programme describes the political priorities and goals for 2025-2030.
Nordic cooperation in this field covers the following sectors: fisheries and aquaculture, agriculture, food and forestry, as well as reindeer husbandry. This field is often referred to as the Nordic bioeconomy – a term that covers both the economy and the development of society on the basis of biological resources. The bioeconomy is very important for all the Nordic countries, and it plays a decisive role in rural areas and in building prosperity, healthy and resilient societies and competitive businesses.
The sectors within the remit of MR-FJLS have been confronted by global events such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruption and, most recently, geopolitical problems caused among other things by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Nordic countries need to work together to find future solutions for the transition of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, fishing, aquaculture and food towards environmentally sound agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and food, and to implement the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. They also need to find a joint way of achieving balanced coexistence between our use of resources, nature conservation and other interests, both on land and at sea. Regional cooperation is needed that involves both the research community and industry.
Three goals will set the direction of Nordic cooperation in 2025-2030:
1) to continue the green transition, 2) to promote competitiveness and 3) to strengthen our resilience.
The Nordic Council, civil society and other relevant actors have been involved in drawing up the cooperation programme. The Nordic Council and Nordic Civ (the network of Nordic civil society organisations) took part in September 2023, contributing to the development of the political priorities for 2025-2030. That input was used in preparing the first draft, which was presented to all MR-FJLS participants. Further consultation then took place in October 2023 with representatives of the private sector and civil society who had been nominated by the member states as relevant actors in the FJLS policy area.
The cooperation programme is the guiding document for all activities within MR-FJLS. The cooperation programme was approved by MR-FJLS on 19 June 2024 and runs until 31 December 2030.
The starting point for the cooperation programme is the Nordic Council of Ministers' mission to contribute to achieving the vision of making the Nordic region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. All the councils are working towards this vision through the three defined strategic priorities.
FJLS policy – a brief overview
Efforts to ensure sustainable food systems and the supply of nutritious food are very important for all the Nordic countries. Most agricultural land in the Nordic countries is used to grow grass for fodder, cereals and other crops. The Nordic countries have cooperated for several decades on genetic resources for agriculture and forestry, and they have chosen a joint strategy for the management of Nordic genetic resources in the form of NordGen (the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre). Reindeer herding is practised in Finland, Norway and Sweden, and in places this activity also crosses the border between Sweden and Norway. Milk and meat production are important activities in every country, while Denmark holds a special position in pork production. Fishing and aquaculture are highly significant in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, while Finland and Sweden are the largest Nordic producers of forestry timber and other forest products. The sectors that make up the FJLS policy area have undergone, and continue to undergo, constant processes of adjustment and optimisation, partly in order to maintain financial viability under changing conditions.
Opportunities and solutions for the challenges in the FJLS policy area in 2025-2030
FJLS policy priorities for the coming years are as follows: to promote a continuous green transition towards sustainable food systems that includes a healthy, sustainable and resilient food supply for a growing Nordic population, health-promoting, safe and sustainable diets, hardy varieties/species and breeding animals, good animal welfare and good animal and plant health. An essential precondition for achieving this is promoting competitiveness in the FJLS production sectors through knowledge-based and sustainable management practices, the sustainable use of resources and the production and further processing of renewable raw materials. Both national and regional “resilience” in the FJLS sectors must be strengthened in order to foster greater food security.
Nordic cooperation is needed to find solutions and reach the necessary compromises to achieve these priority goals. Food safety in the Nordic region is generally good, but extreme weather, supply chain vulnerability, pollution and the spread of alien and potentially harmful species are examples of possible future problems. Increasing the competitiveness of the bio-based industries will be very important for improving food security; at the same time, this is bound up with our commitments to cut emissions, protect biodiversity and achieve a higher level of sustainability in managing our natural resources.
The green transition can also create problems with regard to production targets in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture and reindeer grazing. For example, problems may arise in relation to spatial management, since areas on land and at sea increasingly need to be used for an ever greater number of purposes. This creates greater competition for the use of space, both on land and at sea.
New ideas, innovation and resources for projects with the potential for greater impact can help find solutions that promote competitive production and other benefits to society without jeopardising environmental and climate targets. Many solutions cut across both sectoral and national borders, which means that differing agendas and objectives shape our engagement plans. It is therefore very important that we maintain political consensus on our efforts to achieve the global goals, particularly since considerable problems remain in meeting those goals by 2030.
The joint declaration by the Nordic prime ministers on a Sustainable Ocean Economy and the Green Transition shows the impact that political consensus can give Nordic cooperation. The goals of this declaration cover joint research efforts, improved knowledge sharing and broader Nordic participation in international initiatives and cooperation processes on sustainable ocean management. These goals have been made concrete in a number of initiatives in ocean policy, and they will also serve as guiding principles for the MR-FJLS cooperation programme for 2025-2030.
It is clear that the needs in the FJLS policy area are both numerous and considerably greater than the resources currently available for national and joint Nordic sectoral initiatives. Regional cooperation is therefore worthwhile, because it makes it possible to maximise the benefits of national efforts from a wider Nordic perspective and to create a better basis for synergy and exchange at regional level. Broader cooperation between Nordic institutions and experts fosters the exchange of experience, innovation and joint research initiatives that bring greater benefit to the whole Nordic region. Cooperation between the various Councils of Ministers and Nordic institutions also makes it possible to carry out joint initiatives across different policy areas, providing a sound basis for Nordic research and innovation activities. The network and cooperation structures established within FJLS can also be used to support efforts that build preparedness and the capacity to address the problems facing this policy area. Nordic cooperation also offers the Nordic countries good opportunities to speak with one voice in international contexts where it is advantageous to emphasise a shared Nordic view on global issues.
Finally, a further dimension that creates both problems and opportunities in the FJLS policy area is the development of digitalisation, along with the development of artificial intelligence (AI). This is an aspect that will be analysed in more detail within Nordic cooperation, with the aim of achieving more efficient food analysis and testing processes, a higher level of consumer awareness and better information-sharing practices that can help improve our joint preparedness for zoonoses and epizootics in Nordic bioeconomy chains, as well as recording and mapping the various interests that exist in fisheries, aquaculture, forestry and agriculture. The challenges that digitalisation might create can be analysed jointly by Nordic public authorities in order to create a basis for joint Nordic initiatives to improve our preparedness with regard to cyber security and other digital threats common to the whole policy area. A higher level of digitalisation is also important for optimising production in the green and blue sectors, making it possible to reduce resource losses, cut the use of pesticides and antibiotics, for example, and raise the level of skills development and improve knowledge.
The green transition towards sustainable use of resources is the central consideration in how we will produce food and manage our natural resources in the Nordic region, taking future generations into account as well.
The green transition
Managing and using natural resources sustainably is becoming ever more complex, so we need to broaden our knowledge in this field in order to adapt better to climate change, limit the impact on the climate and the environment, ensure competitive production for a growing Nordic population and promote well-being and biodiversity. There is therefore a real need for more joint initiatives in research, innovation and skills development, and there is great potential here for creating Nordic added value. Sustainable food systems and value chains in the FJLS policy area require competitive production, access to renewable energy sources and the sustainable conservation of biodiversity. At the same time, it is also important that food safety remains at the same high level as before, while more solutions and innovations are introduced to promote sustainable and healthy consumption. Achieving sustainable and healthy consumption calls for solutions and innovations that will shape suitable raw material and processing chains in the future, delivering greater resilience and competitiveness while reducing the risk of negative climate and environmental impacts from these systems.
Sustainable food production depends on maintaining good animal, fish and plant health in the Nordic region, since this in turn ensures good animal welfare, low use of medicines and pesticides and safer food. These fields must also be understood as interconnected with the environment and health, through what is known as the “one health” perspective. Consumption of sustainable and healthy food also requires food safety and the availability of nutritious food in line with the research findings compiled in the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, and it must be based on foods for whose production we in the Nordic region have good natural and cultural conditions. We also need to reduce the amount of food waste, improve resource efficiency from farm and sea to table and create a better food environment. The production of new green and marine proteins and by-products in the bioeconomy opens up opportunities to increase local feed and food production, but it also sets new requirements for good food safety and analytical capacity – a field in which Nordic cooperation already has an established structure and long experience of joint initiatives. Consumption of sustainable and healthy food will also require greater attention to biological and genetic diversity, resources and genetic knowledge. Through NordGen, the Nordic countries have a unique opportunity to support sustainable consumption and production, for example by developing healthy and hardier crops that can withstand climate change. NordGen also makes it possible to conserve and encourage the use of other, less commercially bred farm animal breeds with a range of characteristics, which are sustainable in the long term and in demand because they can secure access to suitable breeding animals in the future.
The green transition requires a reduction in the use of fossil resources, and this in turn means a greater need for alternative and renewable energy sources such as bioenergy, wind and solar power. Construction and engineering solutions based on steel, aluminium and concrete require considerable use of fossil energy. This means that Nordic bio-based industry – chiefly forestry, along with food production waste – must be brought into the energy supply chain in new ways, and that environmentally sound, wood-based products must be used in buildings and structures more than they have been to date. The Nordic countries have a good tradition of cooperation in research and knowledge sharing in forestry and wood processing.
The Nordic countries need to work together to find future solutions for the transition of the agriculture, forestry, fisheries, fishing, aquaculture and food sectors towards environmentally sound agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture and food, and to implement the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.