Statement
Helsinki, Finland
5 November 2007
The HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan –
A major milestone in joint efforts to make the Baltic Sea a more environmentally sound and healthier place
Speech by Prof. Mieczysław S. Ostojski, Chairman of HELCOM,
at the annual HELCOM Diplomatic Lunch,
Helsinki, 5 November 2007
Your Excellencies, dear Colleagues,
I wish to extend a very warm welcome to all of you today. I am very pleased that in spite of your heavy responsibilities you found the time to participate in the annual HELCOM Diplomatic Lunch. This is the seventh year when the Ambassadors of all the HELCOM Member States to Finland, the Representative of Finland, as well as the Ambassadors of the countries in the Baltic Sea drainage area meet to talk about issues having effect on the international co-operation for the protection of the Baltic marine environment.
Today, I would like to brief you on the progress HELCOM has made to create a strategic action plan to drastically reduce pollution to the Baltic Sea and restore its good ecological status.
As you recall, in 2005 the HELCOM Member States decided to draft an overarching strategy which should solve all major problems affecting the Baltic. During the past 18 months, experts have been engaged in a major effort to devise a set of measures needed to rehabilitate the marine environment.
Today, I am happy to report that this recovery strategy is nearly complete. Clearly realizing the deteriorating state of the marine ecosystem, the Baltic Sea countries came together in a spirit of unprecedented co-operation to devise a plan that lists joint goals for the Baltic’s future and sets forth a commitment to achieve these goals through specific actions that the coastal states will jointly undertake. After a relatively short time frame for drafting such a complex plan, the coastal countries have reached broad consensus on concrete and meaningful actions that are needed to drastically reduce pollution to the Baltic Sea and achieve a common goal to make the Baltic Sea a more environmentally sound and healthier place.
The HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan sets an ambitious target of achieving by 2021 a good ecological status of the Baltic Sea - a sea with diverse biological components functioning in balance and supporting a wide range of sustainable human economic and social activities. The new plan is radically different from any other plan or programme previously undertaken by HELCOM. The revolutionary aspect of the new plan is that it will be based on a clear set of Ecological Objectives defined to reflect a jointly agreed vision of a healthy Baltic Sea. Example objectives include clear water, an end to excessive algal blooms, and viable populations of species. Targets for good ecological status will be based on the best available scientific knowledge. With the ecosystem approach, the protection of the marine environment is no longer seen as an event-driven pollution reduction approach to be taken sector-by-sector. Instead, the starting point is the ecosystem itself, and a shared concept of a healthy sea with a good ecological status. This vision determines the needs for reductions in pollution loads, as well as the extents of various human activities.
As I mentioned, this holistic Baltic Sea Action Plan is designed to solve all major environmental problems affecting the Baltic Sea. The plan’s four segments include measures to curb eutrophication, prevent pollution involving hazardous substances, improve maritime safety and accident response capacity, and halt habitat destruction and the decline in biodiversity.
Of the many environmental challenges, the most serious, and proving difficult to tackle with conventional approaches, is the continuing eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, caused by excessive nutrient pollution loads of nitrogen and phosphorus to the sea originating from agriculture and untreated sewage. This leads to problems like increased algae blooms, murky waters, oxygen depletion and lifeless sea bottoms. Compared to pristine conditions in the 19th century, nitrogen input to the Baltic Sea has increased ninefold, resulting in extensive summer algal blooms, as can be seen almost everywhere in the main basin of the Baltic Sea.
The results that we get from modeling are encouraging and show that it is really possible to restore the Baltic Sea and achieve good ecological status. We will not perhaps reach the pristine conditions but quite a pleasant situation as a result of more effective treatment of municipal waste waters, use of phosphorous free detergents and best practices in agriculture. But we can also see that if we continue business as usual the future is not looking good for the Baltic Sea. The blue green algae blooms will be twice as intensive as today, turning the sea into a lifeless toxic cocktail.
The negotiation process has not been that easy. We had to reach consensus on a wide range of actions to tackle all environmental problems affecting the marine environment, and realign them with existing national and international policies. Today I received a letter from one of the Member States informing that the country is not able to participate in the Ministerial Meeting in Krakow and adopt the action plan due to the upcoming parliamentary elections.
I am very surprised to hear this. I have just sent a letter through the diplomatic channels with a request to reconsider this position. Because the postponing of the meeting would mean that we would loose the momentum gained following the good progress made in developing the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. Taking into account the great interest in this meeting of all levels of society (parliamentarians, ministers, NGOs, journalists) it would be a disaster to call off the meeting. As Chairman of HELCOM, I would like to avoid this situation, not least taking into account that a similar situation in the future could happen in other countries and this precedence could destroy the spirit of co-operation within HELCOM.
I am kind of pessimistic, but in a Polish way. We say that a pessimist is a well informed optimist.
I would like to conclude by saying that the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan will be a crucial stepping stone for wider and more efficient actions to combat the continued deterioration of the marine environment resulting from human activities. With the creation of the new environmental strategy, HELCOM will continue its long record of respected leadership in marine environmental protection. And for that reason it is very important that we hold the Ministerial Meeting in Krakow and adopt the action plan.
With this vision, I would like to invite Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, to join me in a toast to the broader and deeper co-operation between all the HELCOM countries for the protection of the Baltic Sea.