Russia announces the date of the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting

Helsinki, 10 June (HELCOM Information Service) – The Russian Delegation to the Helsinki Commission for the protection of the Baltic marine environment today announced that 2010 Meeting of the Ministers of the Environment of the HELCOM Member States will be held on 19-20 May in Moscow. The Russian Federation is currently holding the two-year chairmanship of the Commission.

“The upcoming Ministerial Meeting is considered a landmark event which will catalyze national commitments and launch full-scale actions towards the restoration of the degrading Baltic marine environment,” said HELCOM’s Chairman Igor Maydanov at the two-day meeting of the Heads of Delegation of the HELCOM Member States, which ends today in Helsinki. At the upcoming Moscow Ministerial Meeting all the nine coastal countries are expected to present their National Implementation Programmes to achieve the objectives of the strategic HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to radically reduce pollution to the sea and re-create its good ecological status by 2021.

“The implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan is considered an initiative of the highest political importance for the Baltic Sea region as the long term economic and social well-being of the 85 million people living in the catchment area of the Baltic Sea highly depends on the state of the marine environment,” said Maydanov. The action plan focuses on the region’s most urgent environmental problem – the continuing eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, caused by the excessive nutrient loads of the nitrogen and phosphorus that are entering the sea mainly in run-off from farmland and inadequately treated sewage. This phenomenon leads to problems like increased algal blooms, murky waters, oxygen depletion and lifeless sea bottoms. Among other major challenges is pollution involving hazardous substances, habitat destruction and the decline of biodiversity, as well as maritime safety in the region.

HELCOM has become the first marine convention in the world to have developed a truly overarching programme of actions for the rehabilitation of an entire sea basin. The holistic plan contains concrete and meaningful actions to solve all major problems affecting the Baltic Sea. The plan is also a first ever attempt by a regional seas convention to incorporate an innovative ecosystem-based approach into the protection of the marine environment. The core policy of the plan is based on Ecological Objectives defined to reflect a common vision of a healthy sea - a sea with diverse biological components functioning in balance and supporting a wide range of sustainable human economic and social activities. This vision dictates the need for specific, tailor-made solutions for different environmental challenges.

One of the major highlights of the new plan is that it opens a new era in marine environmental protection by including the concept of maximum allowable nutrient input, which still makes it possible for the Baltic Sea to reach a good ecological status. The plan also contains provisional country-wise annual nutrient input reduction targets for both nitrogen and phosphorus, the nutrient pollutants responsible for the continuing degradation of the sea.

The European Commission has already recognised that the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan will be instrumental for the successful implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive in the region. The importance of HELCOM’s work is also recognised in relation to the EU Maritime Policy. And the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region is likewise expected to draw heavily from the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan in its environmental as well as safety and security pillars.

Note to Editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), is an intergovernmental organisation of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the European Community working to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety of navigation in the region.

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

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 635

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi