Baltic Marine Environment
Protection Commission

HELCOM devises a fitness programme

The first part of a more modern HELCOM is ready and agreed on, describing a plan for major deliverables by the organization until 2021. Since 2012 HELCOM has been streamlining itself to better cope with increasing changes in marine and maritime governance, to maintain and strengthen the inter-linkage with other international frameworks, and to ensure a forward-looking and focused agenda well reflecting priorities of HELCOM’s ten Contracting Parties. The result is a more efficient and effective HELCOM, better equipped to address the identified challenges of the Baltic Sea area. The 35th Annual Meeting of the Helsinki Commission agreed to go ahead with the plan “Directions and solutions for streamlined HELCOM activities”. HELCOM’s strengths and challenges have now been identified, along with possible solutions to overcome the challenges and a procedure for establishing priorities. The starting point for planning future actions is the constantly updated Roadmap of HELCOM activities on ecosystem approach, which contains all major deliverables and their timelines in HELCOM work. The next streamlining step will be a new working structure for HELCOM.

The first part of a more modern, streamlined HELCOM is ready and agreed on.