HELCOM Task Force to discuss actions, quota system, and funding mechanisms for the Baltic Sea Action Plan

Helsinki, 1 December (HELCOM Information Service) – The international ad hoc Task Force for the development of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan will hold its Third Meeting on 4-5 December in Hamburg, Germany, to review an updated outline of possible actions to be included in the new environmental strategy to restore the Baltic marine environment.

“One of the main objectives of this Meeting is to detail the list of measures that the Baltic Sea countries must put in place to further reduce pollution in the Baltic Sea and repair the damage done to the marine environment,” said Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary.

The HELCOM Member States acting as Lead Countries for the development of each of the four segments of the Plan will present a revised outline of possible actions to be included in their respective segment. Finland and Latvia will report on possible activities needed to curb eutrophication, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden on measures to prevent pollution involving hazardous substances, Denmark and Russia on actions to improve maritime safety and response capacity, and Estonia and Poland on ways to halt habitat destruction and the decline in biodiversity.

The financial aspects of the Plan’s implementation and the cost-efficiency of measures will top the agenda of the two-day session. Experts are expected to look into a proposal prepared by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) on how to realise the plan’s actions by using funding mechanisms, such as EU structural funds, as well as the international financial institutions. The Meeting will also review the progress of the “Project on the economic analysis of the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan” with a focus on eutrophication. Its objective is to create a prioritized list of actions within the different sectors (industries, municipalities, agriculture, etc). The analysis will serve as a possible model to be used also for the analyses of the other three priority areas included in the work of the Task Force. The economic analysis of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan will include an assessment of the value of the Baltic Sea environment, the cost of non-action, as well as the cost-benefit/efficiency of measures.

One of the major topics of discussion at Meeting will be the establishment of a pollution reduction quota system and a trading mechanism. It is expected that NEFCO will submit a proposal developing further the idea of the establishment of a quota system dealing with the required nutrient reductions for each of the Baltic Sea countries, including the timeframe, and a simple trading mechanism for the reduction quotas among the HELCOM Member States.

Note to Editors:

In 2005, the Helsinki Commission (the intergovernmental organisation of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the EU for the protection of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution) resolved to create a Baltic Sea Action Plan, which would set out a new strategy to reduce pollution and reverse the marine environment degradation. The concept of this ambitious plan of actions, which has already been widely heralded as a pilot project for the European seas under the newly drafted EU Marine Strategy, will provide a unique opportunity to take wide-ranging and purposeful actions to achieve the ultimate target of having a healthy marine environment with balanced eco-systems for the benefit of present and future generations.

The consultation process on the development of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan was officially launched at the kick-off Stakeholder Conference held on 7 March 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. After a series of meetings and a final Stakeholder Conference in March 2007, which will look into and review a first draft of a single Baltic Sea Action Plan, the finalised environmental strategy will be adopted at a Ministerial HELCOM meeting, which will take place on 15 November 2007 in Krakow, Poland. 

The international ad hoc Task Force for the development of the Baltic Sea Action Plan was established at the annual HELCOM meeting in March 2006. This meeting also approved the first core elements of the action plan - a common vision of a healthy Baltic Sea and a set of strategic goals and ecological objectives for achieving a commonly acceptable good status of the marine environment.

For more information, please contact:

Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel.: + 358 (0)207 412 635

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi