HELCOM releases input documents to Stockholm Ministerial

Helsinki, 18 November (HELCOM) - The Helsinki Commission today released a set of input documents to the Baltic Sea informal Meeting for Ministers of the Environment, which will take place on 23rd of November in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Stockholm Ministerial has been called by the Swedish Minister for the Environment Lena Sommestad to dwell upon the current situation in the Baltic Sea marine environment and consider additional coordinated measures to fight pollution and restore the ecological balance of the sea.

The Helsinki Commission’s input to the Stockholm Ministerial has been prepared according to the decision of the HELCOM Extraordinary Meeting of the Heads of Delegation of the nine Member States and the EU in Bonn, Germany, which took place on 4th of November.

HELCOM’s input contains up-to-date background information on the status of the Baltic Sea marine environment and current trends in the key areas of concern: eutrophication, hazardous substances, maritime activities and biodiversity. It also describes HELCOM’s multi-national activities in the protection of the Baltic Sea marine environment during the last 30 years and reports progress on the development of an innovative strategic Baltic Sea Action Plan.

This summer, the HELCOM Member States and the EU resolved to develop a strategic Baltic Sea Action Plan by 2007, to ensure that all possible measures are taken to reduce pollution in the Baltic Sea and to repair the damage done to the marine environment. This plan is based on Ecological Objectives, which are defined to reflect a common vision of a healthy Baltic Sea. The Ecological Objectives and their associated indicators will be used to evaluate the efficiency of existing environmental measures and to provide guidance for the development of future management measures for the region. The development of the Action Plan will involve all the Baltic Sea coastal countries. Input and active participation from all major stakeholder groups in the region will also be required, to ensure that the Action Plan is relevant and can be effectively implemented in practice.

The PDF version of the HELCOM input documents to the Stockholm Ministerial can be viewed on the Commission’s website at http://helcom.navigo.fi/stc/files/Publications/OtherPublications/Bckgrnd_info_to_BS_Informal_Mtg_for_Env_Ministers_Sto.pdf. More details of HELCOM’s activities, publications and projects are available at http://www.helcom.fi.

Contacts

HELCOM Secretariat

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov
Information Secretary
Tel: +358 9 62202235
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi