HELCOM in Kaliningrad region

Today the high attention is given to Environmental protection issues in Baltic see region. There are regions where environment conservation is the area of responsibility for more than single country. The Baltic see is one of such regions, which is very sensitive to negative impact from people. Toward this end the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) where Denmark, Estonia, European community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden are working together to protect the Baltic marine environment.

The Helsinki commission meets annually with politicians, experts and stakeholders in the field of environmental protection. More detailed information about HELCOM you may find on HELCOM web-site www.helcom.fi. On 22nd of May, 2008 the First Stakeholder Workshop on Implementation of the HELCOM Baltic See Action Plan for the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation had been held in order to involve local stakeholders in the Action Plan implementation process. The workshop dealt with the segments of the Baltic see Action plan:

Eutrophication
Hazardous substances
Biodiversity
Maritime activities

In opening address the governor of Kaliningrad region Mr. Georgiy Boos stressed particular importance of Baltic see conservation for further generations and urged to active participation in this field. After this several reports concerning HELCOM Action plan and its implementation has been presented. After main part of the conference there were three parallel sessions on:

water waste water treatment
agriculture
biodiversity

Special emphasis at the conference has been given to the water purification projects because current situation in this issue is extremely dangerous for Baltic see waters. It is necessary that all municipalities which impact on see water area should participate in this work. With this purpose there are recommendations in HELCOM Baltic See Action Plan.

The Head of National secretariat of Russian party of Euroregion Baltic Mr. Victor Koshelev have presented the information about ?Environmental protection in Kaliningrad region? reference network activity in the framework of Seagull II project. His report included the information about project ideas concerning Hot Spot 49 (Sovetsk Pulp&Paper Mill) and Hot Spot 73 (Vistula lagoon) and also about planed transformation of Environmental Protection reference network in to formal ERB Working Group. In the end of the seminar some concrete suggestions on priority issues have been prepared which can be used by involved stakeholders as a Roadmap for implementation of the Baltic See Action Plan for Kaliningrad region.