HELCOM to consider a revision process for nutrient reduction targets of the Baltic Sea Action Plan

Helsinki, 28 November (HELCOM Information Service) - The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) will convene its 27th Meeting of the Heads of Delegation of the Member States on 3-4 December in Helsinki to discuss working programmes, intersessional work, and ongoing projects. As at the previous Meeting in June, the implementation of the overarching HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan to drastically reduce pollution to the marine environment and restore its good ecological status by 2021, which was adopted last year, will be the topmost issue on the Agenda.

It is expected that the Heads of Delegation will consider a process and step-wise approach towards the revision of the nutrient reduction targets of the eutrophication segment of the action plan, taking into account the newest information on the nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea which are responsible for the current state of the marine environment. The maximum allowable nutrient loads together with the country-wise nutrient reduction allocations that were adopted in the plan in 2007 were considered to be provisional. It was agreed that the process of updating the figures with the newest available data would begin in 2008.

“Just recently the HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Group has scrutinized an integrated thematic assessment of eutrophication,” says Anne Christine Brusendorff, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary. “The report is a result of over three years of work by dozens of experts from all the coastal countries of the Baltic Sea. For the first time such an assessment integrates all available information concerning the eutrophication in the Baltic Sea and provides a classification of the eutrophication status of almost 200 areas around the Baltic Sea. The HELCOM Member States have agreed that the results of the thematic assessments and indicators will serve as the basis for evaluating the implementation status of the plan and revising the nutrient reduction targets for the coastal countries.”  

Another major task for the Heads of Delegation will be to review the work of the Baltic Sea Action Plan Implementation Group (BSAP IG). Currently, the major focus of BSAP IG is on the eutrophication segment of the plan. The Group is elaborating a comprehensive list of municipal wastewater treatment plants and a list of agricultural pollution hot spots that do not fulfill the HELCOM requirements. This task is considered absolutely critical for the successful implementation of the action plan. Inadequately treated sewage and agricultural run-off are the major sources of nitrogen and phosphorus inputs into the Baltic Sea. Therefore, mitigation of excessive nutrient loads from these sources is recognised as one of the priority actions.

The Heads of Delegation of the HELCOM Member States will also review the activities of all other HELCOM Subsidiary Groups, as well as working programmes and ongoing projects.  The Meeting will consider the proposal by the Russian Federation to revise some of the HELCOM Recommendations in the field of land-based pollution sources, addressing certain industrial sectors, e.g. glass, pulp and paper and leather industries, taking into account the Best Available Techniques. Additionally, representatives of the coastal countries will consider the adoption of the revised Criteria for Hot Spot Inclusion/Deletion, with regards to the new agricultural hot spots, which do not comply with revised Annex III of the Helsinki Convention.

The Heads of Delegation are also expected to endorse a list of non-indigenous Target Species that when introduced to the Baltic might be harmful for its environment. “The HELCOM Target Species list enumerates species that would have to be taken into account in future risk assessments to be done to allow certain ships or routes to be exempted from applying ballast water exchange or treatment according to the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention yet to come into force,” says Monika Stankiewicz, Professional Secretary at HELCOM.

The Meeting of the Heads of Delegation will take place at the premises of the HELCOM Secretariat in Helsinki. It will be conducted by the Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, Mr. Igor Maydanov.

Note to Editors:

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, more usually known as the Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, is an intergovernmental organisation of all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU which works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety of navigation. 

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area", known as the Helsinki Convention.

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