Baltic Marine Environment
Protection Commission

 

Baltic Marine Environment
Protection Commission

    Sweden

    Head of Delegation

    Jacob Hagberg
    Ministry of Climate and Enterprise
    SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden
    Phone: +46 8 405 10 00
    E-mail: jacob.hagberg@regeringskansliet.se

    The Swedish Baltic

    A view of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town
    Mjältön Island, Höga Kusten Skargard in northern Sweden
    Ferry passing through the Swedish archipelago
    Swedish Baltic Sea coast in winter time

    The Swedish Baltic Sea coastline extends all the way from the northernmost part of the Bothnian Bay to the Skagerrak, a distance of more than 1,500 kilometres.

    The Swedish coast and particularly the archipelagos and the islands of Gotland and Öland are enormously important for summer recreation and outdoor life.

    Coastal sites of cultural heritage have been adversely affected and integrated coastal zone management is an important means of resolving conflicts of interest. Just over one thousand professional fishermen were registered in the Baltic Sea coastal districts in 1998. This number continues to decline.

    The wind power industry has shown a growing interest in exploiting the two large islands and the offshore banks of the Baltic Proper since the 1990s.

    The main threats to the Baltic Sea are eutrophication, persistent organic pollutants, over-fishing, increased maritime traffic and non-indigenous species. Some 200 oil spills per year are recorded in Swedish waters, most of them in the Baltic Sea.
    Two out of fifteen national environmental quality objectives are particularly aimed at improving the state of the Baltic Sea including “Zero Eutrophication” and “A Balanced Marine Environment, Flourishing Coastal Areas and Archipelagos“.

    Other objectives will also be of great importance, however. Interim targets have been set for 2010. For example: “Long-term protection will be provided for at least 50% of marine environments that are worth protecting and at least 70% of coastal and archipelago areas with significant natural and cultural assets” and “waterborne anthropogenic nitrogen emissions in Sweden into the sea south of the Åland Sea will have been reduced by 30% compared with 1995 levels”.

    Resources

    Ministry and government authorities/institutions

    Monitoring and research