Policy Instruments for Nutrient Recycling: National and Regional Perspectives

On 16 June 2026, GREENHOOD joins forces with the Finnish national project OHRAKE in Helsinki, Finland, to host a collaborative Governance Lab workshop and discussion on policy instruments for nutrient recycling. Taking place from 9:00 to 12:30 EET (8:00-11:30 CEST), this in-person session brings together key national and regional actors to explore governance strategies that balance environmental care with agricultural resilience.

About the Governance Labs

The GREENHOOD Governance Labs are participatory platforms designed to bridge the gap between technical innovation and policy reality. At each event, we bring together regional stakeholders, experts, and policymakers to co-create actionable roadmaps for sustainable nutrient management.

Our goal is to ensure that the environmental solutions proposed by GREENHOOD are practically feasible, scalable, and perfectly aligned with the regulatory frameworks of our chosen ecosystems. This session focuses on the Archipelago Sea Basin demo-region.

What to expect?

This collaborative workshop focuses on developing and refining policy instruments to advance the circular bioeconomy in Finland. Participants will engage in dialogue surrounding critical systemic challenges, including:

• Enhancing Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE): Optimising how nutrients are managed and absorbed throughout the agri-food chain.
• Decreasing nutrient losses: Evaluating legal and practical tools to minimise environmental runoff into sensitive aquatic systems.
• Balancing nutrients between regions: Exploring strategies to redistribute nutrients from livestock-dense areas to crop-producing regions.
• Security of supply: Linking structural nutrient recycling directly to Finland's national food security and strategic autonomy.

Agenda

The workshop includes presentations from both organising projects alongside targeted updates from key Finnish ministries:

• Project presentations: updates and insights from GREENHOOD and the national project OHRAKE (Policy Instruments to Promote Nutrient Recycling).
• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry: an overview of ministerial objectives to promote nutrient recycling, alongside a first look at the upcoming roadmap for nutrient recycling and security of supply currently under preparation.
• Ministry of the Environment: an update on the Archipelago Sea Programme and the region's current progress toward deleting the HELCOM Hot Spot status for agriculture in the Archipelago Sea catchment.

Who should attend?

The round-table dialogue relies on a diverse network of cross-sector experts. Attendees include representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Environment, spanning responsibilities in nutrient recycling, water protection, fertilising product regulation, and waste regulation.

The session is supported and organised in cooperation with our Finnish partners, including LUKE (Natural Resources Institute Finland), the Finnish Biocycle and Biogas Association (SBB), KEHA-Centre, and MTK Southwest Finland.