The German parts of the North and Baltic Seas are contaminated with an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of ammunition from the two World Wars. These underwater munitions pose risks of explosion and release toxic chemicals that threaten both human safety and marine ecosystems.
In Phase 1 of the project, CONMAR–Governance examined the growing momentum behind munitions clearance efforts. The project analyzed advocacy and communication strategies that successfully influenced policy change and supported clearance efforts by developing a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) for prioritizing munition dump sites in the German Baltic Sea.
Phase 2 builds on this foundation and coincides with the pilot clearance of munitions piles in designated dumping sites, funded by the federal government’s Immediate Action Program ‘Munition Clearance’. This phase aims to contribute to effective clearance through scientific monitoring, coordination with stakeholders and local communities, and the promotion of public acceptance.
Our work focuses on:
CONMAR - 'CONcept for conventional MArine munition Remediation in the German North and Baltic Sea' (funding reference No. 03F0981A to 03F0981I) is a project of the DAM research mission sustainMare "Protection and sustainable use of marine areas", which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from 01.12.2024 to 30.11.2027 in the second phase.
Project Website: https://conmar-munition.eu
