The Karlstad Declaration – Nordic co-operation for preparedness and robustness related to food supply and forestry

Our declaration is based on:

• The Haga Co-operation and the two Haga Declarations from 2009 and 2013
• The Nordic Declaration on Solidarity, 2011 
• The Nordic prime ministers’ joint statement on deepening co-operation in the field of security of supply and preparedness, 2021
• Declaration by the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation on working together in times of crisis, 2022

The Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Food and Forestry (MR-FJLS) stands united in improving preparedness, robustness, and resilience in our sectors and supply chains. 

Our sectors are crucial for Nordic security of supply. Our sectors produce and distribute food and have the ability to increase the production of energy input materials in a crisis. Drinking water is also an important factor in food preparedness.

The experiences of recent years with extreme weather, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine demonstrate the importance of strengthened cross-border co-operation in the Nordic Region to prevent and manage crises in a changing geopolitical landscape. An integrated and robust Nordic Region requires a collective effort to reduce our vulnerability and strengthen our resilience and joint preparedness to face both new and ongoing challenges. 

NATO membership for all Nordic countries now provides us with the opportunity to establish enhanced resilience within the Nordic Region. We see good opportunities for joint exercises on crisis scenarios requiring immediate crisis management and will support initiatives within our sectors that can complement the work being done within the EU and NATO frameworks for civil preparedness and food supply.  As ministers responsible for food supply, it’s crucial that we protect our supply chains against hybrid security risks and ensure that we provide host nation support that effectively meets the region’s and NATO’s expectations. 

Maintaining trade in crisis situations is crucial for security of supply in all areas. However, this is primarily outside the scope of co-operation in the field of fisheries, aquaculture, food and forestry. Forums should therefore be established where relevant actors within these sectors can meet to exchange experiences and work together on supply preparedness across national borders.

Our co-operation is our strength. At the heart of this is the dialogue and exchange of experiences conducted through the structures for Nordic co-operation. Securing the food supply for future generations will place higher demands on Nordic co-operation. There is a need to establish a distinct cross-sectoral crisis co-operation in order to handle already identified dependencies between these different sectors. Likewise, co-operation with private actors is needed at an early stage of the co-operation process. The conditions and starting points for the different member countries in the Nordic Council of Ministers may differ, which must be taken into account.

We want to strengthen and deepen our common knowledge and understanding for a more robust Nordic Region with increased resilience in our sectors and supply chains. The Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Food and Forestry (MR-FJLS) hereby states as follows:

• We will step up co-operation to bolster our common knowledge and understanding of how to uphold the food supply in the Nordic countries. By mapping the trade flows in peace time within the Nordic Region and identifying critical goods for our food preparedness, we will jointly work to establish effective and robust logistics chains with access to critical goods. 
• Based on the different starting points of the member countries, we will work together to create a common overview of how critical goods in the food chain can be produced, transported, and stored in the Nordic Region to increase the supply capacity for food, feed, and drinking water in a crisis. In this context, we will exchange experiences on the diversification of trade chains in relation to counteracting vulnerabilities.
• We will develop co-operation between the public and private sectors to enhance preparedness capabilities within the fisheries, aquaculture, food and forestry sectors.
• We will create an efficient and systematic exchange of information that better facilitates early action to mitigate consequences during crises. We also want to increase the Nordic exchange of information on legislation, organisation, and methods to create the conditions for joint action in events across the entire threat spectrum.
• We will strengthen ongoing co-operation on crisis preparedness in the agriculture and forestry sectors so that we are better equipped to deal with extreme weather and other climate change-related crises, not least by ensuring the conservation of genetic resources and promoting research and plant breeding in this area.
• We will develop analysis models for fisheries and aquaculture that facilitate vulnerability analyses and comparisons between the Nordic countries. 
• We will bear in mind that Nordic commercial fishing is an important part of food preparedness that is carried out in the same marine areas and that the Nordic countries are dependent on the continuation of sustainable commercial fishing. Strengthened co-operation is required regarding management and access to ensure the stability of both fish stocks and the countries’ fishing fleets.
• We will continue co-operation for the important laboratory capacity that we have in the Nordic Region, which is a prerequisite for a high level of food safety and good public health.
• We will further develop our work within One Health and veterinary medicine to improve our ability to prevent and limit the consequences of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, outbreaks of zoonoses, and other serious animal diseases.
• We will work to ensure sufficient labour with relevant education and skills as well as promote a healthy work environment and well-ordered working conditions. Competence in the field of innovation as well as for the development of new crops will continue to be important parts of efforts to ensure a more robust food supply.
• We will protect NordGen’s work with the critical biological infrastructure in Nordic co-operation regarding the sustainable conservation and use of genetic resources, to safeguard access to food and other critical products during crises and major changes in production conditions.
• We will protect cultivated and arable land and ensure adequate access to food as well as feed for aquaculture and animal husbandry to ensure sufficient Nordic production of food and energy.
• We will contribute to sustainable and healthy food systems and build on the many synergies that exist between the sustainable development goals and preparedness goals, not least through climate adaptation and the promotion of genetic diversity within our sectors.
• We will harmonise future new initiatives with earlier forms of co-operation, such as the Hanaholmen Initiative, and make use of the effective networks and co-operation structures that exist within Nordic co-operation and with the Secretariat to the Nordic Council of Ministers. Many of the challenges are cross-sectoral, which necessitates good co-operation with Nordic colleagues from other sectors.

With this declaration, we want to express our ambition for Nordic co-operation in respect of preparedness within fisheries and aquaculture, agriculture, food, and forestry, and considering the frameworks of the Nordic countries’ national policies. This is also reflected in the co-operation programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Food and Forestry for 2025 to 2030, which we have agreed on today, and in our preparations for the joint working plan for 2025 to 2027. 

Peter Kullgren

Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir

Cecilie Myrseth

Dennis Holm

Jacob Jensen

Magnus Heunicke

Jan Christian Vestre

Jesper Josefsson

Kalistat Lund

Kim Kielsen

Geir Pollestad

Høgni Hoydal

Sari Essayah

Karen Ellemann