HELCOM has recently refreshed its HELCOM Explorer tool, an online and open-access database displaying the progress by the HELCOM countries made on the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP).
“With the freshly revamped HELCOM Explorer, it’s now much easier to see where we currently stand on the progress we’re making on the agreed actions and measures under the BSAP,” said Susanna Kaasinen who coordinates BSAP activities at HELCOM.
The BSAP is HELCOM’s strategic programme of actions and measures for achieving good environmental status in the Baltic Sea, addressing eutrophication, hazardous substances, maritime activities and biodiversity.
The BSAP contains both regional actions that are to be implemented jointly by all HELCOM Contracting Parties such as creating new HELCOM Recommendations, as well as national ones that are to be implemented at the country-level such as incorporating the provisions of a HELCOM Recommendation into relevant national legislation or guidelines.
Updated on a regular basis, the HELCOM Explorer tool shows the implementation status of both joint and national actions. It also presents the status of selected HELCOM Recommendations as well as on related commitments made at the HELCOM Ministerial Meetings in 2010, 2013 and 2018.
In October 2020, about 70 percent of the joint regional actions and 26 percent of the national actions from the Baltic Sea Action Plan were reported as being fully implemented by all HELCOM Contracting Parties. 63 percent of the national actions were reported as partly accomplished.
Project researcher in economic and social analyses to support the third HELCOM holistic assessment of ecosystem health (HOLAS III) in the Methodology Development Project
Please note: recruitment closed
We are currently seeking to recruit an experienced professional and enthusiastic person to strengthen our team at the international HELCOM Secretariat in Helsinki, Finland, as a Project Researcher on economic and social analyses of the marine environment.
The appointment is planned to be full time, starting preferably on 18 January 2021 through the end of the project on 31 March 2022. The monthly salary is 2.800 € per month. Please note that the HELCOM salaries are exempt from Finnish income tax.
The tasks require a background in environmental economics or a corresponding field. Previous expertise and knowledge of ecosystem services, ecosystem accounting, and interdisciplinary work are needed.
The Project Researcher’s task is to implement the activities in the work package on economic and social analysis. The activities include:
developing approaches and collecting information for identifying and assessing marine and coastal ecosystem services to improve the implementation of the ecosystem approach;
developing an approach for conducting a marine ecosystem accounting pilot study for the Baltic Sea to describe and quantify interactions between the economy and marine environment based on recent EU work and existing methods and approaches;
exploring the possibilities to develop indicators for drivers in the Baltic Sea region, for factors that drive changes in human activities and sectors utilizing the marine environment;
developing connections between economic and social analyses and environmental assessments of HOLAS III, and the elements within economic and social analyses.
In a bid to harmonize, harvest and share data about the Baltic marine environment at a regional level, HELCOM launched the Baltic Data Flows project in October 2020.
“With Baltic Data Flows, we will be able to put together the different pieces of the Baltic data puzzle,” said Joni Kaitaranta, HELCOM’s data coordinator who oversees the project.
“There’s already a lot of data on the Baltic scattered out there and there is a long tradition of reporting this data to HELCOM by the Contracting Parties according to data formats developed over time,” observed Kaitaranta.
“By combining the data into a regional data product, we will get a pan-Baltic and holistic perspective, which will not only be useful for research and environmental assessments, but also for maritime spatial planning and blue growth-oriented development,” he said.
Baltic Data Flows will enhance the existing harmonization and sharing of data on the marine environment originating from existing sea monitoring programmes. Extending a previous pilot system by project partners ICES and SMHI, it will do so by harvesting national data on the marine environment in order to produce harmonized, regional datasets in a more automated and efficient way.
The project will also seek to enhance the capacity and ICT infrastructure of the competent national authorities for harmonising and sharing collected environmental monitoring data on the Baltic Sea by supporting development of database platforms.
Baltic Data Flows also seeks to increase capacities on quality control and publication of open data within the national organisations and providers hosting environmental data, notably by promoting the implementation of the FAIR principles stating that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.
To support wider dissemination of data collected within the Baltic, the harmonised datasets will eventually be harvested to and made accessible via the European Data Portal (EDP) by using DCAT-AP compliant metadata catalogues.
We are currently seeking to recruit an experienced professional and enthusiastic person to strengthen our team at the international HELCOM Secretariat in Helsinki, Finland, as a Project Coordinator for the Baltic Data Flows project.
The appointment is planned to be full time, starting preferably on 18 January 2021 through the end of the project on 30 September 2023. The monthly salary is 3.000 € per month. Please note that the HELCOM salaries are exempt from Finnish income tax.
The tasks are expected to be carried out independently. However, the Project Coordinator will cooperate with the HELCOM staff involved, who will provide comments and general guidance on the overall HELCOM framework.
The tasks require understanding of marine‐related data collection processes and the concept of public and distributed open data. The selected candidate is expected to familiarize herself/himself with the HELCOM data collection and harmonisation processes and practices as well as the objective and concept of the European Data Portal.
Video message by Rüdiger Strempel, HELCOM Executive Secretary, on the occasion of World Migratory Bird Day
Migratory birds are true connectors, reminding us of how ecosystems are intricately intertwined even when worlds apart.
In the Baltic Sea, migratory water birds are a key component of the food web. They are also indicators of the health of the marine environment.
Of the roughly 100 migratory water bird species that call the Baltic their home – and be it for a brief stop-over only – about a quarter are on our Red List of endangered species.
Indeed, waterbirds are extremely sensitive to changes in their environment.
We know for instance that some birds do not return to their original wintering habitats if wind energy facilities have been installed there.
Accidental bycatch in fishing nets of birds diving for food is also a cause for concern.
When planning what we do at sea, we therefore need to carefully consider migratory birds too, taking into account their habitats and migration corridors.
Applying ecosystem-based management will help to strike a balance between our activities and the needs of waterbirds for resting, breeding or wintering.
We do benefit from the sea and its resources, but we also have a responsibility to maintain it in a healthy state.
On this World Migratory Bird Day, let’s remember that “Birds Connect Our World”. Wherever we are, migratory birds remind us that we are part of a greater whole.
In protecting their environment, we’re also protecting our own.
HELCOM just published several maps on essential fish habitats, publicly available online on HELCOM’s Map and Data service. The maps were produced under the recently concluded Pan Baltic Scope project on maritime spatial planning (MSP) in the Baltic Sea region and to which HELCOM was a partner.
The maps show potential spawning areas of cod, sprat and herring, which are the commercially most important fish species in the Baltic Sea region, as well as key areas for European and Baltic flounder, perch and pikeperch.
“With the maps on essential fish habitats, we now have another tool at our disposal to identify and evaluate marine areas of greater ecological importance,” said SLU Aqua’s Lena Bergström who was responsible for this component within the Pan Baltic Scope project.
Combined with corresponding data for other ecosystem components, the maps on essential fish habitats can be used to identify regions of high ecological value and areas which have the potential to deliver various essential ecosystem services.
The maps can be found under Biodiversity section of the HELCOM Map and Data service:
The maps can also be downloaded as raster files from the HELCOM Metadata catalogue.
The Pan Baltic Scope project was co-founded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund of the European Union. In the project, HELCOM notably collaborated on a data sharing activity to support regional cooperation and transboundary coherence in MSP which lead to the development of BASEMAPS, a web-based tool showing decentralized MSP data through open standard services.
In a bid to better understand the effects of certain hazardous substances on the Baltic Sea, HELCOM, in collaboration with Stockholm University’s Baltic Sea Centre, has compiled the latest science on selected chemical contaminants.
“We must identify the major sources of the hazardous substances and understand how they move in the ecosystems to be able to do something about the problem,” said Emma Undeman, a researcher at Stockholm University and lead author of the reports.
The reports give insights into the sources and pathways to the sea of the addressed substances, as well as on how their concentrations have changed in the Baltic Sea over time.
Dioxins and PCBs, mainly by-products from industrial processes, primarily stem from atmospheric emissions, further persisting in the environment and accumulating in the food chain. This is a particular cause for concern since these substances are known for their adverse effects on the nervous, immune and endocrine systems of living organisms.
The levels of brominated flame retardants (PBDE) – which are now either banned or regulated but were heavily used in the past as additives to prevent ignition and delay spread of fire such as in furniture and curtains – seem to be declining, but trends show that it could take up to 40 years for these contaminants to reach safe levels in the Baltic Sea.
With regard to PFOS and PFAS, used for instance in metal coatings such as Teflon or in firefighting foams, the main pathways are discharges from wastewater treatment plants, and runoff from contaminated sites via groundwater and drainage ditches. Research on PFOS in Baltic Sea biota further indicates that transport to the sea has dropped but that concentrations have not yet declined, pointing towards a high persistence in the marine environment.
Diclofenac, a widely used painkiller that is water soluble, mainly enters the sea through wastewater treatment plants which have a low removal rate of the drug. Despite good absorption by the human body when ingested, diclofenac is overused, leading to significant excretions reaching sewer systems. Some of the diclofenac in wastewater may also originate from dermal application which has a low absorption rate by the body.
The four reports support the update of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), HELCOM’s strategic programme of actions for restoring good ecological status of the Baltic marine environment. The BSAP is due to be updated in 2021.
Information from the reports will notably serve to evaluate the efficiency of currently implemented measures under the present BSAP, and for suggesting additional measures needed to improve the Baltic Sea’s state in regard to the reduction of concentrations of hazardous substances.
Estonian helicopter landing on Finnish vessel Turva during the BALEX DELTA 2020 exercise. Photo: Marit Mätik/Ministry of Interior of Estonia
The 2020 edition of the annual BALEX DELTA exercise is taking place today, 26 August 2020 off the coast of Tallinn, Estonia, testing the readiness of the Baltic Sea countries to respond to major maritime incidents such as oil and chemical spills.
This year, the exercise scenario will involve a collision between two oil tankers in Estonian waters, simulating a large-scale pollution event with a spill of 200 tonnes of oil and missing crew members at sea, triggering a search and rescue (SAR) action.
Besides host Estonia providing several ships and equipment including a surveillance plane and a helicopter, Denmark, the EU, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden are also participating and sending vessels.
“Major accidents are not frequent in the Baltic Sea but BALEX DELTA is one of the tools at our disposal to keep us ready for the worst case,” said Markus Helavuori who oversees response activities at HELCOM.
The BALEX DELTA exercises have been held every year since 1989 to check and improve the operational capacity and skills of the Baltic Sea countries to respond to maritime incidents affecting the waters of HELCOM countries.
During the exercises, both ships, cleaning equipment and procedures required for response operations at sea and on the shore are tested.
The BALEX DELTA 2020 edition is coordinated by the Estonian Police and Border Guard. The exercise is Estonia’s third, with previous ones held in 1997 and 2007.
The Ministers of the Interior of both Estonia and Finland are also attending the exercise.
Applications are invited for the post of Professional Secretary at the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission – Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) Secretariat to coordinate the work related to three subsidiary bodies of HELCOM: Working Group on Reduction of Pressures from the Baltic Sea Catchment Area (Pressure), the Group on Sustainable Agricultural Practices (Agri) and the HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP WG). The post, which is based in Helsinki, Finland, will become vacant on 1 July 2021.
The German Chairmanship team: HELCOM Chair Lilian Busse (centre) with Vice-Chairs Andreas Röpke (left) and Johannes Oelerich (right). Photo: BMU
As of 1 July 2020, Germany has taken over the chairmanship of HELCOM from Finland for a period of two years, setting goals and priorities for combating the threats and pressures impacting the Baltic Sea.
“The overarching goal remains the best
possible protection of the Baltic Sea,” said Svenja Schulze, Minister of the
Environment of Germany, in her
video address introducing the German chairmanship of HELCOM, further adding
that all efforts should also consider aspects of “sustainability, relevance for
the climate and biological diversity, and suitability.”
As is customary for the chairing Party,
Germany has identified several
strategic directions for its chairmanship of HELCOM, focussing on
strengthening marine biodiversity and addressing pressing challenges such as
climate change, munitions on the seafloor and underwater noise.
Germany will also lead the finalization of
the update of the Baltic Seas Action Plan (BSAP) and its implementation, as
well as devote attention to strengthening regional cooperation and ocean
governance. Germany also intends to “make HELCOM fit for the future”, notably by
introducing more resource-saving and efficient working methods.
Lilian Busse from the German Environment Agency (UBA) has been designated by Germany as its Chair for HELCOM. Before joining UBA as Head of the Division on Environmental Health and Protection of Ecosystems, Busse worked at the California Environmental Protection Agency. Overall, she has close to 20 years of experience working on marine environmental protection and related matters.
“Beside the technical and political goals
Germany has planned for its [chairmanship], I will focus on the Baltic Sea
Action Plan,” said Busse in her
joint video address with the HELCOM Vice-Chairs chosen by Germany to second
her.
A particularity of its chairmanship, Germany will, in addition to the Chairperson, also have two Vice-Chairs hailing from the two German federal states bordering the Baltic Sea, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Vice-Chairs are Johannes Oelerich (Schleswig-Holstein) for the first year, and Andreas Röpke (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) for the second year.
“Germany is taking over the chairmanship as
a team,” said Busse.
The chairing Party usually sets the
strategic directions for HELCOM under its tenure, and convenes and chairs the
meetings of the Helsinki Commission and the Heads of Delegation, the highest
decision-taking bodies in HELCOM. Germany will furthermore host the next
Ministerial Meeting in October 2021.
Updating and implementing the BSAP – making progress on specific requirements;
Trying new solutions for well-known, pressing challenges;
Strengthening marine biodiversity; and
Understanding and responding to climate change and the Baltic Sea.
Prior to Germany, Finland chaired HELCOM from 2018 to 2020 and had set its own priorities on advancing the BSAP update process, the reduction of nutrient inputs, the effects of climate change, and the links between HELCOM and the UN Agenda 2030, especially the integration of SDG 14 in HELCOM processes.
“On the Finnish priorities, we committed to
leading the updating the Baltic Sea Action Plan and to finding common solutions
to formulate an ambitious and realistic updated plan,” said Saara
Bäck, the outgoing Chair of HELCOM, adding that “[we] achieved just
that, with the update process well on track despite the crisis having hit hard
across the entire Baltic Sea region – a feat that I cannot be prouder of and
which I would personally like to thank the entire HELCOM community for.”
Under the Finnish chairmanship, HELCOM
notably agreed on the vision and objectives of its Regional Nutrient Recycling
Strategy, crucial for closing nutrient loops, reducing nutrient surpluses and
avoiding nutrient runoff to the sea – the main cause of eutrophication.
Together with Baltic Earth, HELCOM also
launched the EN
CLIME network to gain a better understanding of how climate change affects the
Baltic, with a view to develop policy responses meant to strengthen the sea’s
resilience.
About
HELCOM
The Baltic Marine Environment Protection
Commission – also known as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) – is an
intergovernmental organization (IGO) and a regional sea convention in the
Baltic Sea area, consisting of ten members: the nine Baltic Sea countries
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and
Sweden, plus the European Union. A platform for environmental policy making at
the regional level, HELCOM works for a healthy Baltic Sea. Its mandate stems
from a regional treaty, the Helsinki Convention, whose implementation it
oversees. The HELCOM Secretariat is located in Helsinki, Finland.
The
Helsinki Convention
The Helsinki Convention was signed in
1974 by the Baltic Sea coastal countries to address the increasing environmental
challenges from industrialisation and other human activities, and that were
having a severe impact on the marine environment. The Helsinki Convention
includes the protection of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution from
land, air and sea. It also commits the signatories to take measures to conserve
habitats and biological diversity and to ensure the sustainable use of marine
resources. The Helsinki Convention was updated in 1992 to take into account the
geopolitical changes and emerging environmental challenges in the region. The
current version was ratified in 2000.
The
Baltic Sea Action Plan
To help reach its environmental
objectives, HELCOM has established the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) in 2007.
The BSAP is HELCOM’s strategic programme of measure and actions for good status
of the Baltic Sea’s environment. The BSAP’s current focus areas are
eutrophication, hazardous substances, biodiversity and maritime activities. The
BSAP will be updated in 2021, to adjust the current actions and to widen its
scope on issues such as climate change, marine litter, loss of seabed and
underwater noise.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
