HELCOM countries to discuss challenges ahead on the recovery of the Baltic Sea

Helsinki, 1 March (HELCOM Information Service) – Representatives of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the EU will convene on 9-10 March in Helsinki for the annual HELCOM Meeting to review the organisation’s progress in the protection and recovery of the Baltic marine environment from pollution and set priorities for future work.

This year the annual HELCOM gathering will include a high-level segment where senior government officials from the HELCOM States and the EU will review progress made towards achieving the targets of the strategic HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to radically reduce pollution to the marine environment and restore its good ecological status by 2021.

“At the high-level segment of the annual HELCOM Meeting, officials will discuss the status of the Baltic recovery process,” says Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary. “But their main focus will be on the major slow-progress areas and possible solutions on the way to re-creating a healthy Baltic marine environment.” 

Particularly, the high-level representatives of the HELCOM countries are expected to consider the outcome of the review of the progress of the National Implementation Programmes to achieve the objectives of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. They will specifically discuss measures aimed at facilitating the implementation of the pollution reduction actions at national and regional levels, including region-wide approaches for joint problems, possible new projects, and available funding for the implementation of the activities.

According to the most recent national data, contained in the National Implementation Programmes, which each HELCOM Member State has adopted to achieve the targets of the action plan, several countries have undertaken successful measures to decrease excessive inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus - two nutrients which are responsible for the continued degradation of the marine environment. But the overall situation is still unacceptable. Excessive loads of nitrogen and phosphorus from land-based and other sources are still feeding the excessive growth of algae and the spread of lifeless sea bottoms in most of the Baltic Sea’s sub-basins. Countries need to react urgently and fully apply the pollution reduction measures specified in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan.

It is expected that the officials from the coastal countries and the EU will adopt a joint communiqué.  Following their meeting, the high-level representatives will hold a joint press conference.

As part of the regular annual HELCOM Meeting on 10 March, the Heads of Delegation of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the EU will review the activities of all HELCOM Subsidiary Groups, and discuss working programmes and on-going projects.

The Meeting will particularly discuss the documentation needed for the joint proposal to IMO to designate the Baltic Sea as a NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) under Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention. The Baltic Sea NECA would lead, in a long run, to the reduction of NOx emissions from ships in the Baltic by approximately 80% compared to the current level, estimated at 357 kilotons in 2009. And this will contribute to curbing eutrophication which is the biggest environmental problem of the Baltic Sea.

The work on the Baltic Sea NECA has been carried out since 2008, including extensive studies on the effect of shipping emissions on eutrophication and its harmful effects on human health, as well as studies on the economic impacts of this measure. The HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in Moscow on 20 May 2010 decided that 2011 would be a preferable year for the submission of the proposal to IMO.

Another topmost issue on the agenda is the outcome of the HELCOM SALAR Project on salmon and sea trout populations in rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea. The main task of the project was to make an inventory and classification of the historical and existing Baltic rivers with salmon and/or sea trout populations and suggest measures for restoration plans and active conservation for selected wild salmon river populations.

The major outcomes of the project are recommendations and prioritization of measures in the rivers that are needed for the improvement of the status of salmon and sea trout populations. The project is ground-breaking in that it offers a holistic view on the state of salmon and sea trout in the Baltic rivers and identifies the measures needed for their recovery and development. This will allow for the development of international and national programmes for the funding and systematic realization of these actions.

The Meeting is also expected to adopt new voluntary guidance to address the risk of alien species transfer by ships’ ballast water and sediments on routes between ports of the Mediterranean Sea and the North-East Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. HELCOM jointly with OSPAR have already implemented two sets of similar guidance for voluntary ballast water exchange in the high seas on some other routes to reduce the risk of alien species’ transfer to the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. 

Additionally, the representatives of the coastal countries will review results of the COHIBA Project on the control of hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea Region. They will particularly look into the results concerning the most significant sources and pathways of eleven hazardous substances of specific concern to the Baltic Sea and inventory of cost-effective solutions to reduce their discharges. The project, which has an overall objective to support the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, has detected traces of those substances and also toxicity in treated wastewaters of the Baltic Sea catchment area.

Follow-up:

Media advisory: Senior environment officials of the Baltic Sea countries to hold a joint press conference in Helsinki http://www.helcom.fi/press_office/news_helcom/en_GB/Media_advisory_Press_Conf_HELCOM_2011/

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