Thursday, 29 July, 2010
Action Summit saves the Baltic Sea
Thursday, 04 February, 2010
— The faster we recover the Baltic Sea marine environment, the more affordable these operations are, says Chairman of Baltic Sea Action Summit, Ilkka Herlin.The leaders of the Baltic States will meet in Helsinki on February 10th with the joint intention of saving the Baltic Sea marine environment. Baltic Sea Action Summit will bring together a much wider audience than previously expected. The goal is to speed up the rescue operations, for there is no time to waste.
The action summit has been organized by Baltic Sea Action Group, BSAG, which has been founded by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. The goal of the operations is to unite the resources of actors within the public, private and the third sectors, in order to improve the conditions of the Baltic Sea.
— The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most polluted seas. There is still hope for saving this vulnerable marine environment, but only enough to say that we must do everything we can in order to rescue it. The situation is getting worse and worse, so change must take place as quickly as possible, says the Chairman of the Baltic Sea Action Group, Ilkka Herlin.
A lot has been done already. For instance, the Baltic States have joined forces in formulating an action plan for reviving the Baltic Sea. The aim is that this Baltic Sea Action Plan, which was published in 2007 by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission HELCOM, will now be implemented in practice. The Baltic Sea is threatened by eutrophication, marine traffic, hazardous substances and climate change.
— Our goal is to strengthen the cooperation and get companies and organizations involved in contributing from their expertise, and developing it towards saving the Baltic Sea. This way we can persistently continue developing the whole region towards sustainable development.
Three wishes
All the leaders, forerunner companies and non-governmental organizations from the Baltic States have been invited for the summit, which will take place at the Finlandia conference centre in Helsinki. The participants have put together concrete commitments for saving the Baltic Sea, realization of which will be monitored by the BSAG.
The number of commitments and participants took the organizers by surprise.
— We expected to receive about 50 commitments, but instead, we received about 120. Also, we estimated to be hosting about 400 participants, but received confirmations from double that number. The top leaders from the governments of nearly all the Baltic States will come along. So, the situation of the Baltic Sea is clearly of great interest, and there is a shared need to take an action, Herlin rejoices.
The best commitments will be presented at the summit followed by discussions on what can be done to improve the situation. Herlin has three wishes. He wishes that a mutual understanding of the importance of joint marine monitoring system for the Baltic Sea will be established. The other wish is that the sea’s cod stock will be protected and the fish stock restored.
Thirdly, Herlin wishes that the implementation of the obligations set out in the Baltic Sea Action Plan will be speeded up in practice. The only country that has already met these demands is Sweden, so all the other countries have still plenty to achieve.
Herlin is hopeful.
— Everything has gone surprisingly well this far. Hopefully we will now be able to reinforce our cooperation and far-sightedness wins short-sightedness.
www.bsag.fi
The action summit has been organized by Baltic Sea Action Group, BSAG, which has been founded by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. The goal of the operations is to unite the resources of actors within the public, private and the third sectors, in order to improve the conditions of the Baltic Sea.
— The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most polluted seas. There is still hope for saving this vulnerable marine environment, but only enough to say that we must do everything we can in order to rescue it. The situation is getting worse and worse, so change must take place as quickly as possible, says the Chairman of the Baltic Sea Action Group, Ilkka Herlin.
A lot has been done already. For instance, the Baltic States have joined forces in formulating an action plan for reviving the Baltic Sea. The aim is that this Baltic Sea Action Plan, which was published in 2007 by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission HELCOM, will now be implemented in practice. The Baltic Sea is threatened by eutrophication, marine traffic, hazardous substances and climate change.
— Our goal is to strengthen the cooperation and get companies and organizations involved in contributing from their expertise, and developing it towards saving the Baltic Sea. This way we can persistently continue developing the whole region towards sustainable development.
Three wishes
All the leaders, forerunner companies and non-governmental organizations from the Baltic States have been invited for the summit, which will take place at the Finlandia conference centre in Helsinki. The participants have put together concrete commitments for saving the Baltic Sea, realization of which will be monitored by the BSAG.
The number of commitments and participants took the organizers by surprise.
— We expected to receive about 50 commitments, but instead, we received about 120. Also, we estimated to be hosting about 400 participants, but received confirmations from double that number. The top leaders from the governments of nearly all the Baltic States will come along. So, the situation of the Baltic Sea is clearly of great interest, and there is a shared need to take an action, Herlin rejoices.
The best commitments will be presented at the summit followed by discussions on what can be done to improve the situation. Herlin has three wishes. He wishes that a mutual understanding of the importance of joint marine monitoring system for the Baltic Sea will be established. The other wish is that the sea’s cod stock will be protected and the fish stock restored.
Thirdly, Herlin wishes that the implementation of the obligations set out in the Baltic Sea Action Plan will be speeded up in practice. The only country that has already met these demands is Sweden, so all the other countries have still plenty to achieve.
Herlin is hopeful.
— Everything has gone surprisingly well this far. Hopefully we will now be able to reinforce our cooperation and far-sightedness wins short-sightedness.
www.bsag.fi
