Sweden to host a Stakeholder Workshop on regional implementation of HELCOM’s action plan

Helsinki, 19 January (HELCOM Information Service) - As part of the Swedish HELCOM Chairmanship programme, Sweden will host an international Stakeholder Workshop in Trelleborg on 21 of January which will focus on local and regional initiatives to implement and finance the strategic HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to radically reduce pollution to the sea and restore its good ecological status.

It is expected that Trelleborg and Skåne authorities, officials from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, the HELCOM Secretariat and representatives of various municipalities, NGO’s and companies from around the Baltic Sea region will participate in the event. 

“The purpose of this workshop is to provide an exchange of experiences between local and regional actors and the Task Team that is reviewing the costal countries’ National Implementation Programmes to achieve the objectives of the HELCOM action plan,” says Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary. “This will help guide the future implementation of the plan.”

According to the Agenda, the major focus of discussions will be on the implementation of the eutrophication and maritime segments of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Experiences from both local initiatives and cross-bordering projects will be presented. Participants will particularly look into nutrient recycling, cost effective measures to reduce nutrient loss from agriculture, integrated utilization of sewage sludge and upgrading port reception facilities.

The workshop will include a number of presentations of actual projects under implementation or potential project initiatives, and brain-storming discussions.

This is already the second workshop on the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan held in Sweden. The first one was arranged in Stockholm on 25 January 2008 for municipal authorities on financing actions for implementing the HELCOM action plan. To date, there have been eight regional /national Stakeholder Workshops on the implementation of the plan since its adoption in 2007, including four in Russia and three in Poland.

Note to Editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organization of all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU 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 more information, please contact:

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)46 8509196

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 645

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi