21.08.2009

Stochholm, Sweden

Speech by HELCOM's Executive Secretary Anne Christine Brusendorff in response to the announcement of the Swedish Baltic Sea Water Award

20 August 2009, World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden

It is a great honor for me to be the one, who on behalf of the whole HELCOM community, receives the information that HELCOM has been awarded this year’s Swedish Baltic Sea Water Award.

This award is a great recognition of the dedication, vast efforts, and hard work, that my colleagues in all the Baltic Sea countries, the European Commission and in the HELCOM Secretariat have invested – emanating from a common belief that only by working in the same vein, towards the same goals will we be able to enjoy and benefit from our wonderful sea.

If I were to give the recipe for this intense and fruitful cooperation I would point to at least four factors:

The first is a shared understanding of our dependence on the Baltic Sea, and the need for a concerted policy, leading to concrete measures. HELCOM is probably a prime example of this. Today, it seems for us  unbelievable that in those days when some countries belonged to NATO, some to the Warsaw Pact and the remainders were neutral, and with different political ideas applied in different parts of the region – all states in 1974 signed the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area. This willingness to cooperate, to in an efficient and targeted way find workable solutions have ever since been a feature of the work of the Helsinki Commission.

Another imperative aspect of our cooperation is that it is built on concrete achievements. We have managed to go from visions to every-day work, knowing that this is where the progress lies.

And it should be acknowledged that both major reductions in the pollution loads to the Baltic as well as the resulting improvements in the status of populations of species of fauna and flora have been achieved. All of this has been and continues to be based on best and jointly developed scientific knowledge on the status of the Baltic Sea, trends and pressures and pollution loads affecting our sea, as well as the effectiveness of adopted measures.

This hasn’t allowed us to rest on our laurels – and the third characteristic that I would like to emphasise is HELCOM’s working practice where we have dared to try out and test innovative ideas. The leading example is the creation of an ambitious Baltic Sea Action Plan to radically reduce pollution to the marine environment and restore its good ecological status by 2021. This innovative plan is based on an ecosystem approach to the management of human activities that are affecting our Baltic Sea. With this HELCOM Action Plan we have agreed, by using ecological objectives that we are able to quantify, on the state of the Baltic that we want to achieve. And the quantifications, have so to say dictated the needed actions adopted and included to the HELCOM Action Plan.

And as the fourth and last feature of the HELCOM cooperation I would like to point to the shown ability of our organization to adapt itself to new settings. An alertness that has led HELCOM to make important linkages and ensure complementarities between the work that we carry out and the work that is carried out in other organizations, be it globally or at the European level.

And in recognition of today’s main theme - the EU Baltic Sea Strategy – I personally believe that one could hardly find a better example - the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan being the backbone of the upcoming EU Baltic Sea Strategy. This at the same time can also serve as an exemplary model for a joint cooperation between two organisations, with different coverage, membership and working practice. And hopefully it will trigger off other strategies within other regions, cementing the role of a healthy sea for a sustainable development – and the role of the regional marine environment protection commission’s in achieving this.

Even if it is a day of joy and celebration we all know that the work doesn’t stop here. We have a major challenge in front of us - the presentation by the nine coastal countries of their National Implementation Programmes to implement the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. These National Implementation Programmes will be presented and assessed by the upcoming HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in Moscow on the 20th of May next year.

I am confident that the four factors I started off describing for You will be needed - and made use of once more – when the countries are developing their National Implementation Programmes.

The Award will serve to further inspire and motivate our organization towards making the Baltic Sea area environmentally sustainable, prosperous, accessible and attractive, as well as safe and secure.

I thank you on behalf of all my colleagues in the HELCOM family.

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