”A Greener Agriculture for a Bluer Baltic Sea” Conference arranged for
the fifth time (Twitter: #agreener201327 August 2013, Helsinki, Finland – Starting today,
close to 300 participants are expected to join the Conference , co-organised by . This years’ theme is
“Visions on nutrient management” and the main organizers include five EU
co-funded region-wide projects – , , , and – and . Effective nutrient management, as an integral
part of the broader modernization and future development of agriculture
production in the Baltic Sea region, is a major priority for HELCOM as well as
high on the agenda of the Copenhagen on 3 October 2013The goal of the fifth GABBS conference is to facilitate
networking and knowledge transfer about sustainable nutrient management between
farmers, researchers, policy-makers and agribusiness representatives. Moreover,
the winner of 2013 Baltic Sea Farmer of the Year Award will be announced by WWF.
The award aims at inspiring farmers around the Baltic Sea region to take an
active part in combating eutrophication“All HELCOM members have acknowledged that sustainable
agricultural production is the key to the success of reaching Good Environmental
Status of the Baltic Sea, and this Conference provides a significant forum for
promoting these efforts. HELCOM will share its knowledge, experience and visions
for the future of cooperation between policy-makers and agricultural sector, and
integrating technology and policy on the regional level,” summarizes Mikhail
Durkin, Professional Secretary for land-based issues in HELCOMAgriculture is one of the core areas of HELCOM operations.
The major reductions of nutrient inputs from farming as well as introduction of
measures to curtail phosphorus and nitrogen losses are both stipulated in . The
regular activities of ensure
the follow-up on land-based pollution issues in a regional context. Through
Agriculture and Environment Forum (),
HELCOM enhances the dialogue between agricultural and environmental authorities
on the development and application of sustainable agricultural practices with
the least environmental impact on the Baltic Sea urthermore, HELCOM has recently been running
agriculture-related projects in Russia, aimed at turning manure into fertiliser
products. Currently, the efforts are concentrated mainly in the EU-funded – Implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Starting in 2012 and
continuing until 2014, the project has been collecting data on manure, assessing
area of agricultural land and cultivated crops, compiling a register of manure
handling techniques, and preparing guidelines on how to use technological and
environmental criteria in investment projects for large animal farms. BASE is a
follow-up of the already finalised EU-funded BALTHAZAR
project involving, i.a., converting chicken manure into fertiliser through a
simple and cost-effective method of tunnel compostingTwitter: #agreener2013 * *Note for editors:A key focus area for the (HELCOM AGRI/ENV FORUM), established in
2008, is to seek opportunities for cost-efficient and sustainable ways to reduce
environmental footprint of agricultural production, through sharing knowledge
and experience on best practices and techniques. Communicating research results
and promoting innovative and sustainable agro-environmental business
opportunities, as well as channelling this information to policy level are other
important tasks of this Baltic-wide Forum he (HELCOM LAND) is responsible for reducing pollution from all sources
on land within the Baltic Seas catchment area. HELCOM LAND identifies point and
diffuse sources of land-based pollution of nutrients and hazardous substances,
and proposes suitable actions in order to reduce these emissions and discharges.
HELCOM LAND also works to promote environmentally sound practices and
technologies – Best Available
Techniques (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BEP) he Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually
referred to as , is an intergovernmental organization of
all the nine Baltic Sea countries and the EU which works to protect the marine
environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety
of navigationHELCOM is the governing body of the “Convention on the
Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area,” known as the
Helsinki Convention * For more information, please contact:Mikhail DurkinProfessional SecretaryHELCOMTel:
+358 (0)46 850 9195E-mail: Skype:
helcom0Johanna LaurilaInformation SecretaryHELCOMTel:
+358 (0)40 523 8988E-mail: Skype:
helcom70
“A Greener Agriculture for a Bluer Baltic Sea” Conference arranged for the fifth time (Twitter: #agreener2013)
