Duration:

Begin: 13 April 2003 (official project start)
End: 16 July 2006

Budget:

Total: 1.114.000,00 €
part of the ERDF: 732.000,00 €

Conversion of former military sites is a pressing issue in the Baltic Sea Region. Not only are municipalities and regions still coping with the after-effects of around 3500 post-Cold War military base closures – several hundred facilities are currently in the process of being closed in restructuring processes of the respective national armed forces. These processes are set to continue and gain momentum in the future, given the changing security environment in the region.

While the reduction of military sites is of course a welcome development, it does pose an immense challenge to the affected municipalities and regions. Currently, they are left more or less to their own devices in tackling this challenge. The difficult process of converting and redeveloping former military sites touches on social, economic, cultural and environmental issues, demanding a cross-sectoral approach to achieve the goals of sustainable regional development.

The aim of the Convernet-project is to create a transnational network for
- organising thematic workshops and seminars,
- collecting, sharing and disseminating information,
- acting as a "conversion lobby" vis-à-vis third parties,
- and helping the participating partners develop innovative solutions by means of demonstration projects.

The work of the network focuses on conversion in the fields of spatial planning, sustainable regional development
and cross-border co-operation.

The participating partners come from Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden and include national, regional and local administrations, public companies and research institutions.

Given the complexity of the project and the need to co-ordinate between numerous institutions from several countries, and based on the experiences gained from a similar network ("Demilitarised") which has existed between regions and municipalities of EU-member countries faced with issues of conversion, it is essential to have a steering committee able to orchestrate the efforts and function as a back-stopping agency.