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.
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.
Yet another milestone was reached on the update of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), with the HELCOM Contracting Parties agreeing on 2030 as the new target year for the plan. The decision was taken at the 58th Meeting of the HELCOM Heads of Delegation (HOD 58-2020) that was held online from 9 to 10 June 2020.
During the meeting, the HELCOM Contracting Parties also approved the work plan and preliminary timetable of the BSAP, currently set to be launched during the next HELCOM Ministerial Meeting planned for October 2021.
Further on the BSAP, HOD 58-2020 also supported the inclusion of actions related to monitoring of the marine environment, climate change, awareness raising, financing, and economic and social analysis.
The prolongation of the Expert Working Group on Oiled Wildlife Response (EWG OWR) until 2021 was also agreed on, along with its new terms of reference. The EWG OWR seeks to increase capacities to oiled wildlife response through joint regional standards, cooperation and training.
On HOLAS III, the third holistic assessment of the state of the Baltic Sea, a provisional timeline and preliminary plan were also agreed on during HOD 58-2020. HOLAS III will cover an assessment period from 2016 to 2021, with the final results to be presented in 2023. The last holistic assessment was instrumental for the update of the BSAP, presenting a comprehensive overview of the state of the Baltic Sea and the pressures affecting it.
The Heads of Delegation expressed their appreciation for the accomplishments achieved by HELCOM under the Finnish chairmanship, set to end in June 2020, notably on advancing the BSAP update process, as well as work on 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.
“Finland is handing over the HELCOM chairmanship to Germany, where I am sure it will be in the best of hands – after all, HELCOM is one big family of likeminded siblings all working very hard towards achieving the same goal, namely a Baltic Sea showing good ecological status,” said Saara Bäck, the outgoing Chair of HELCOM.
Germany will take over the chairmanship from HELCOM in July 2020, for a period of two years. 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 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 and shown during HOD 25-2020, further indicating that the update of the BSAP will play a central role during the German tenure. Other priorities include issues such as marine protected areas, ammunitions on the seabed, and increasing the visibility of HELCOM.
Lilian Busse from the German Environment Agency (UBA) has been designated by Germany as its Chair for HELCOM, seconded by Vice-Chair Johannes Oelerich (Schleswig-Holstein) for the first year, and Vice-Chair Andreas Röpke (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) for the second year.
We are currently in search of an enthusiastic expert to strengthen our team at the international HELCOM Secretariat as Administrative Assistant. The position is to support the Administrative Officer in the administration of the Secretariat. While the tasks are mainly focused on finances, they also include tasks related to HR and general administration of the office.
Responsibilities
assisting in closing of accounts and preparing the financial statement;
tasks related to accounting, invoicing, reporting and follow-up;
support in budgeting;
tasks related to HR and general administration (e.g. preparing contracts, reports and applications);
support in developing the administrative tools of the Secretariat;
other administrative tasks as assigned.
Qualifications and experience
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. business administration, public administration, economics) or corresponding education;
minimum of two years of relevant professional experience from financial and administrative tasks;
knowledge of accounting practices and systems;
ability to work independently, take responsibility and initiatives;
excellent organizational and administrative skills and proven ability to deliver to tight timelines;
excellent social and team skills;
A thorough knowledge of the English and Finnish languages as well as high competence in IT skills are essential.
Apply by end of 22 June 2020.
More details about the job offer and on how to apply can be found on our vacancy page.
Application period has closed. Please do not apply.
HELCOM is currently in search of an enthusiastic and experienced expert to strengthen our team at the international HELCOM Secretariat as fixed-term Associate Professional Secretary. The position of Associate Professional Secretary involves both administrative/assisting tasks and content/substance tasks related to the fields of activities of HELCOM.
The administrative tasks consist mainly of supporting the relevant Professional Secretaries in preparing multilateral meetings and communication within HELCOM and its different working groups and networks.
The substantive tasks are mainly related to biodiversity (covering habitats to species, ranging from plankton to marine mammals), pressures on the marine environment stemming from human activities (e.g. eutrophication and benthic habitats), conservation, monitoring and assessment. However, changes in the substance areas are possible.
The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (Helsinki Commission – HELCOM) is an intergovernmental organization (Denmark, Estonia, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden) with its headquarters (Secretariat) in Helsinki, Finland, working to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea.
At present, we are around 30 staff members at the HELCOM Secretariat, and our working language is English. We offer an open, friendly, dynamic and energetic, often fast-paced, international working environment that challenges everyone to contribute their best to our common goals.
HELCOM has recently joined the EMERGE project on shipping emissions in EU marine waters and was one of the 18 project partner organizations that attended its kick-off meeting in Laxenburg near Vienna, Austria from 24 to 26 February 2020.
Coordinated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, EMERGE will quantify and evaluate the effects of potential emission reduction solutions for shipping in Europe, and develop effective strategies and measures to reduce the environmental impacts of shipping.
“Beyond producing data, the project will also develop several scenarios to help identify management options on how to best deal with all sorts of shipping emissions,” said Joni Kaitaranta, the HELCOM data coordinator handling the project at HELCOM. The outcomes of the project are expected to be further considered by the relevant HELCOM working groups.
As a project partner, HELCOM will mainly be involved in the work packages on hosting and publicizing spatial data outputs such as emission maps stemming from developed modelling framework and based on different management scenarios. HELCOM will furthermore participate in developing online tools for disseminating the outcomes and associated data to stakeholders, decision-makers and to the general public.
HELCOM has extensive experience in gathering and processing data on the marine environment and maritime activities, notably through its indicator work and its map and data service.
EMERGE will systematically analyze the complex interactions between technological options, pollutant emissions and dispersion, and environment. It will carry out measurements and modelling on actual vessels, along main shipping routes and in sensitive European marine regions.
Measurements will focus on abatement techniques and will include emissions to, and concentrations in water, air and marine biota. EMERGE will especially investigate how effectively available scrubbers reduce the effects of key pollutants.
For those who wonder why Laxenburg was chosen as the kick-off venue: besides hosting the premises of project partner IIASA where the event took place, the city is also (almost) the geographical centre of the project, effectively reducing CO2 travel emissions by the participants that were coming from all parts of Europe – ranging from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean.
Actions for a healthier Baltic Sea and HELCOM’s Voluntary Commitments to the UN Ocean Conference 2020 were addressed in Helsinki during the Annual Meeting of the Helsinki Commission – the 41st Meeting of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM 41-2020) – that took place from 4 to 5 March 2020.
The Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) and its update were one of the central themes of the event that also featured a high-level segment attended by high-level representatives such as state secretaries and other high-ranking ministerial representatives of the Baltic Sea countries and the EU. Only Ministerial Meetings rank higher on the HELCOM meeting scale.
“Building on the political will expressed by the ministers in 2018, we are now progressing from words to action, as 2019 marked the beginning of more concrete work on the new BSAP,” said Rüdiger Strempel, the Executive Secretary of HELCOM, in his statement.
Initially set to achieve its objectives by 2021, the BSAP is due to be updated in 2021 as mandated by the HELCOM Contracting Parties during the Ministerial Meeting held in Brussels in 2018. The past months were characterized by translating the political will expressed in 2018 into a concrete roadmap and actions towards the update, such as the analysis of sufficiency of existing measures.
In Helsinki, the high-level representatives recognized that clear progress has been made under the current BSAP during the past 13 years. However, they also acknowledged that the level of implementation has not been fully satisfactory and stressed the need to ensure and accelerate the implementation of the actions under both the current and updated BSAP.
Nevertheless, the BSAP remains one of the most effective instruments for a healthy Baltic, offering a long-term vision and strategic orientation, as well as a wide array of science-based actions and measures. The updated BSAP is expected to include considerations on climate change, marine litter, pharmaceuticals, underwater noise, and loss of and disturbance to the seabed, among other pressures.
At HELCOM 41-2020, the representatives particularly highlighted the importance of recognizing climate change as a cross-cutting topic and the need for more knowledge on the impacts and consequence of climate change, therefore regarding the BSAP as an “instrument to strengthen the resilience of the Baltic Sea ecosystem and minimize negative effects of climate change on society,” as stated in the meeting outcome.
Based on the existing plan, the update will maintain at least the same level of ambition as the current plan and include all actions and measures from that plan that have not been implemented yet.
The outcome of the HELCOM Stakeholder Conference 2020, held the day before HELCOM 41 and aimed at gathering input from stakeholders on the BSAP update and that was, was also presented during the session of the high-level representatives who particularly lauded the quality of the engagement of the stakeholders. A total of 49 potentially new BSAP actions were proposed during the event.
Furthermore, at HELCOM 41-2020, the representatives agreed on submitting five Voluntary Commitments by HELCOM to the 2020 UN Ocean Conference, concurring on:
updating of the Baltic Sea Action Plan by 2021,
the development of a HELCOM Science Agenda to contribute to the UN Decade of Ocean Science,
strengthening cooperation with other Regional Seas Organisations,
offering strong support for global efforts to address the marine litter problem on a global level, and
organizing a workshop on ecosystem-based management in support of the UN Decade of Ocean Science.
The voluntary commitments are part of HELCOM’s concrete efforts on global outreach and on advancing the global ocean agenda.
During the meeting, a number of HELCOM Recommendations were also adopted or revised by the Contracting Parties, such as the Recommendation on Deep-Sea Pilotage in the Baltic Sea (Recommendation 41/1) and the HELCOM Recommendation on the use of national manure standards (adopted in principle).
A roadmap on the collection of fisheries data to assess incidental bycatches and fisheries impact on benthic biotopes in the Baltic Sea was also agreed on during the meeting, as was the project proposal on the monitoring of pollution loads to the Baltic Sea (PLC-8).
Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, with Rüdiger Strempel, HELCOM’s Executive Secretary. Germany will assume the chair of HELCOM from 1 July 2020 until 30 June 2022, taking over from Finland.
HELCOM 41-2020 also saw the nomination by Germany of Lilian Busse, Head of the Division of Environmental Health and Protection of Ecosystems of the German Environment Agency, as Chair of the upcoming German chairmanship. Germany will take over from Finland on 1 July 2020, for a period of two years.
The representatives further took note of Germany’s will to increase the political visibility of HELCOM work during its chairmanship, with the BSAP being at the centre of the work, further supporting the Parties in its implementation, and extending invitations to civil society and stakeholders to participate in HELCOM processes.
The high-level segment of HELCOM 41-2020 was attended by Katrine Nissen (Denmark), Harry Liiv (Estonia), Veronica Manfredi (EU), Terhi Lehtonen (Finland), Jochen Flasbarth (Germany), Silvija Nora Kalnins (Latvia), Vitalijus Auglys (Lithuania), Katarzyna Krzywda (Poland), Nuritdin Inamov (Russia) and Gunvor G. Eriksson (Sweden).
Concrete actions for a healthier Baltic Sea were proposed in Helsinki this week during the HELCOM Stakeholder Conference 2020 that aimed at gathering feedback from stakeholders on the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), HELCOM’s strategic programme of actions, which is due to be updated by 2021.
A total of 49 new actions to be considered for inclusion in the updated BSAP were voiced during the conference, touching upon a variety of topics such as hazardous substances, marine litter, shipping and other sea-based activities, as well as eutrophication and biodiversity.
Climate change was also heavily emphasized during the conference, as was the issue of implementation of BSAP actions at the national level, where stakeholders felt more progress should be made. Better collaboration between ministries and authorities also featured highly on the participants’ wish list, along breaking “thinking in silos” in favour of a more holistic view of protection of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea.
The conference, titled “For a sustainable Baltic Sea: The Baltic Sea Action Plan beyond 2021”, and that attracted over 120 participants from different organisations such as governments, NGOs, academia and industry, was a direct result of the decision recorded in the HELCOM Ministerial Declaration 2018 to include stakeholders in the BSAP update process.
According to the declaration, the BSAP update should “be strongly communicated with stakeholders, enable knowledge sharing between science and policy across all levels, be developed in a participatory and transparent way at the regional and local levels, including all appropriate stakeholders.”
Although its environmental objective to each good environmental status by 2021 is unlikely to be achieved, the BSAP remains one of the most effective instruments for a healthy Baltic.
“No other plan or programme offers the same long-term vision and strategic orientation, the same agreement on a holistic set of science-based actions and measures for a healthy Baltic Sea, the same regional and cross-sectoral acceptance,” said Rüdiger Strempel, the Executive Secretary of HELCOM, during the conference.
It is expected that the update of the BSAP will include considerations on climate change, marine litter, pharmaceuticals, underwater noise, and loss and disturbance of seabed, among other pressures. Based on the existing plan, the update will maintain at least the same level of ambition and include all actions and measures from that plan that have not been implemented yet.
The proposed actions gathered from the Stakeholder Conference will now be forwarded to the relevant HELCOM working groups for further consideration and possible additional development within HELCOM and the BSAP update processes.
Dr Susanne Heimüller works for the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) and isthe Chair of HELCOM Maritime Working Group
Overall, what’s the current state of the management of wastewater from ships in the Baltic Sea, also compared to other seas?
The Baltic Sea is a highly sensitive sea area and eutrophication is one of its major problems. Therefore, following a lengthy preparation process within HELCOM, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) designated the Baltic Sea as “Special Area for sewage discharges from passenger ships under Annex IV of the MARPOL Convention.” Worldwide, it is the only region so far regulating these discharges.
The more stringent Special Area regulations, which already applies to newly built vessels, require passenger ships to either discharge their sewage into port reception facilities (PRF) or to treat sewage with an advanced on-board sewage treatment plant capable of reducing nutrients to a safe level for discharging at sea.
This is an important step forward towards a healthier Baltic Sea, while, at the same time, showing how a MARPOL Annex IV Special Area may be implemented.
Why the Technical Guidance? What’s its objective, background?
Handling big volumes of sewage in ports requires new and innovative approaches. Initial experiences show that there is no “one size fits all” solution. Almost each port, with its own, specific infrastructure requirements, needs a tailored solution.
The Technical Guidance sets out probable problems a port may encounter, and presents possible solutions on the different aspects of the management of wastewater from ships, be they of infrastructural or technological nature, or related to planning and communication.
Who is the Technical Guidance meant for?
The Technical Guidance offers recommendations to port operators and shipping companies. It can also be useful for administrations and municipal wastewater companies dealing with the issue.
How do you expect the Technical Guidance to improve wastewater management in the Baltic Sea?
The Technical Guidance will hopefully aid all involved stakeholders to better understand the major and various challenges ports and ships face when it comes to managing wastewater. Awareness and good communication is a first step in working together on practical solutions, and ultimately, on improving the environment of the Baltic Sea.
