Nordics create green fund to protect the Baltic Sea

Sweden and Finland have launched a fund to improve the Baltic Sea's marine environment, it was announced on Thursday. The move is the latest of several initiatives taken as part of an action plan to clean up the sea by 2021 (EE 09/04/09 http://www.endseurope.com/21110).

In particular, the environmental fund will subsidise efforts at local and regional level to reduce discharges by the agricultural sector and remove nutrients from wastewater, Swedish environment minister Andreas Carlgren said in a statement.

Initial donors to the fund, which is open to all countries bordering the Baltic Sea, include the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO). They have pledged a total of SKr50m (E4.65m) for the first year.

*Meanwhile, new calculations carried out for the Helsinki Commission (Helcom) at Stockholm University appear to confirm recent reports that discharges of phosphates and nitrogen to the Baltic Sea are declining (EE 03/03/09 http://www.endseurope.com/20816).

The decline is partly due to the construction of new treatment works in Poland following its entry into the EU, and improved farming practices in Denmark and Sweden, Svenska Dagbladet newspaper reports.

Follow-up: Press release about Nordic environment fund

http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/11937/a/126379 (Swedish environment ministry).

See also articles in Svenska Dagbladet newspaper

 http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_2875417.svd and The Local

http://www.thelocal.se/19398/20090512/.

ENDS Europe Daily is Europe's leading environmental news service. A free trial is available by clicking on the following link: http://www.endseuropedaily.com/web/helcom.