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HELCOM Agriculture and Environment Forum (HELCOM AGRI/ENV FORUM)
Focus
Agricultural practices for reduced nutrient leakage are key focus areas for the HELCOM AGRI/ENV Forum, bearing in mind that the agricultural sector is a main source of land-based nutrient pollution of the Baltic Sea.
Read here more about agriculture as one of the causes of Eutrophication in the Baltic Sea.
Background
The HELCOM AGRI/ENV Forum was established at the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting in 2010. Based on the good experiences with the Fisheries and Environmental Forum. established two years earlier, it was considered useful to replicate this experience within the agri-environmental field. In the forum, agricultural and environmental authorities have the possibility to meet, discuss and jointly take forward actions towards reaching the targets in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP).
Participants in the Forum are representatives from both the agriculture and environmental protection bodies from the HELCOM Contracting Parties, and Observer organisations. Through the Forum, participants can improve and share knowledge and experiences, highlighting any constraints and needs for support. In this way, the HELCOM AGRI/ENV Forum has an important role in supporting and facilitating the successful implementation of the BSAP and the respective decisions of the HELCOM Ministerial Meetings.
Main aims
As settled in the first meeting in 2010, the HELCOM AGRI/ENV Forum has the following aims (in brief):
to improve communication and cooperation between agricultural and environmental administrations as well as with other relevant institutions in the Baltic Region;
to promote, initiate and follow-up activities which can facilitate the implementation of agriculture related actions in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan;
to acknowledge and build on relevant existing national and international legislative frameworks and policy instruments;
to discuss utilising tools of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to implement the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Declaration and to discuss and exchange views on the available funding programmes.
Chairs
Starting from 2010, the meetings have been successfully co- chaired by Mr. Dietrich Schulz, (Germany), German Federal Environment Agency and Mr. Wieslaw Podyma (Poland), Polish Ministry of Agriculture.
Contact
Mr. Mikhail Durkin
Professional Secretary
HELCOM Secretariat
phone: +358 46 850 9195
E-mail: mikhail.durkin@helcom.fi