Key Areas about Protecting the Baltic Sea Discussed in a HELCOM Meeting

5 December 2011, Helsinki, Finland (HELCOM Information Services) – Heads of Delegations of HELCOM, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission will meet today to review the activities of all HELCOM Subsidiary Groups, and to discuss working programmes, intersessional work and on-going projects. The review of the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan will top the agenda. All four main areas of the Action Plan have made progress.

“I am particularly proud of the progress of implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, which also shows the relevance of the HELCOM work towards the implementation of global and EU legislative and policy frameworks. This already paves the way and raises the expectations for the HELCOM Ministerial meeting in 2013 as well as for longer term commitments, “says Anne Christine Brusendorff, who is approaching the end of her long assignment as the HELCOM Executive Secretary.

A number of scientific products created by HELCOM experts are on the agenda of the meeting. These products are essential for providing the knowledge needed for protection measures. For instance, the meeting will consider a comprehensive checklist of Baltic macro-species, listing altogether 2721 species of fishes, marine mammals, benthic invertebrates, water birds and plants from the Baltic Sea. The list is the first deliverable from RED LIST project which is creating threat assessments of species and habitats in the Baltic region. In addition, the meeting is expected to decide to publish a list of threatened Baltic Sea breeding birds, 20 out of 56 categorized as threatened.

Creation of core indicators to measure the state of hazardous substances and biodiversity of the Baltic Sea will be discussed. The CORESET project proposes 15 core indicators for the continuous follow-up of the state of biodiversity and 13 for hazardous substances, in addition to the existing eutrophication core indicators set up by HELCOM.

Further, a new Recommendation which is about to get approved by the Meeting, would enhance abilities of the coastal countries to respond to spillages of oil and other harmful substances on the shore.

Heads of Delegations of Helsinki Commission or HELCOM, meet twice every year to review the status and implementation of the ambitious Baltic Sea Action Plan (2007–2021) to significantly reduce pollution within the vulnerable marine area. The Minutes of the meeting will, as always, be compiled and posted in the Meeting Portal of the HELCOM website shortly after the meeting.

* * *

Note to Editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission or HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organization of the nine Baltic Sea countries and the European Union which works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution.

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," known as the Helsinki Convention.

* * *

For further information please contact

Ms. Johanna Laurila
Information Secretary

HELCOM
Tel: +358 40 523 8988
Fax: +358 207 412 645

E-mail: johanna.laurila@helcom.fi