Baltic Sea

Regional reports on the state of the marine and coastal environment

Fourth Periodic Assessment of the Baltic Sea Environment: Baltic Sea Environment 1994-1998". Summary. Full report. The amount of oil entering the Baltic Sea every year has been estimated to be between 20,000 and 70,000 tonnes, about 10 per cent of which from shipping.

Marine and Coastal Environment. Annual topic update 2000. Report published in 2000 by the EEA Topic Center on Marine and Coastal Environment.

EEA: State of the environment reporting system (SERIS): Country reports for Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation, and Sweden.

UNEP: Global Environment Outlook 3 (GEO3). Coastal and marine areas..

University of Rhode Island: Large Marine Ecosystems (LME): The region includes the Baltic Large Marine Ecosystem.

Regional conventions, agreements, action plans and actors

Convention of the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea (Helsinki Convention) • Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) • See also the HELCOM Copenhagen Declaration on safety of navigation and emergency capacity in the Baltic Sea Area. ••>

HELCOM Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme. ••>

HELCOM: Waste disposal in the Baltic Sea.

Baltic Strategy on Port Reception Facilities for Ship-generated Wastes. ••>

Copenhagen Agreement. ••>

Baltic Sea Regional Project. ••>

Declaration of the Joint Ministerial Meeting of the Helsinki and OSPAR Commissions (June, 2003): Environmental impact of shipping.

Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control. ••>

Vision and Strategies around the Baltic Sea 2010: Maritime Transport in the Baltic Sea from a Spatial Perspective.

International actors and agreements in the region

See Global action and Global actors.

The Baltic Sea has been designated as a Special Area for the purpose of Annex I (oil) to MARPOL 73/78. Discussions are ongoing about applying also for status as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) under MARPOL..

UNECE Convention of the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. • UNECE. ••>

UNEP Regional Office for Europe. ••>

UNEP Regional Seas Programme. ••>

UNEP Global programme of action for the protection of the marine environment from land-based activities (UNEP GPA). ••>

National action

National organization of response within the framework of the EU Community Information System: Denmark • Finland • Germany • Sweden.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

Germany

Latvia

Lithuania

Poland

Russia

Sweden

Private sector and NGO actors and initiatives

Baltic Ports Organization (BPO). ••>

Coalition Clean Baltic. ••>

European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO). ••>

European Community Shipowners Association, ECSA. See Annual Report on Safety and Environment.

CONCAWE. The oil companies' European organisation for environment, health and safety.

Europia. The European government affairs organisation of the oil refining and marketing industry in the EU and EEA.

Oilwatch. ••>

International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF). ••>

International Directory of Oil Spill Cleanup Contractors and Response Organisations. ••>

International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA). ••>

In 1977, oil tanker Tsesis ran aground in the southern Stockholm archipelago, in the Baltic Sea, causing a spill of about 1,000 tonnes. It is not the biggest spill that has ever occurred in the Baltic, but the location was very unfortunate, in shallow and productive waters in the narrow archipelago. Photo: © Swedish Coast Guard.