International Task Force to consider an initial list of actions for the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan

Helsinki, 24 October (HELCOM) – The international ad hoc Task Force for the development of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan will hold its Second Meeting on 25-26 October in Stockholm, Sweden, to consider an initial list of actions to be included in the new overarching strategy to restore the Baltic marine environment.

“The Task Force, consisting of representatives nominated by the HELCOM Contracting Parties and major regional stakeholder organisations, will discuss progress in creating a matrix of possible concrete measures for each of the four main environmental priority areas: eutrophication, hazardous substances, maritime activities and biodiversity,” said Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary.

It is expected that the HELCOM Member States acting as Lead Countries for each of the four segments of the HELCOM plan will present the outlines for their segment focussing on proposals for specific actions. Finland and Latvia will report on possible activities needed to combat 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 major aim of this Meeting is to agree on a first outline of the possible actions to be included in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan,” said Anne Christine Brusendorff.

During the two-day session, the Task Force will also discuss the first progress report 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 results of this project are extremely important for the development of the plan,” said Kaj Forsius, Professional Secretary of HELCOM. “In the end we will know how much it costs to have a healthy Baltic Sea and how to achieve it in a cost-effective way. 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.”

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 Warsaw, 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