The Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) has been named the winner of the 2009 Swedish Baltic Sea Water Award. The award was announced today by the Swedish minister for international development cooperation Gunilla Carlsson at the Baltic Sea Seminar during the 2009 World Water Week in Stockholm.
HELCOM works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. The organisation is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area", commonly known as the Helsinki Convention.
The award highlights important work towards halting the Baltic’s deterioration and improving its ecological balance. Because of its special geographical, climatological, and oceanographic characteristics, the Baltic is highly sensitive to the environmental impacts of human activities in its sea area and its catchment area, home to over 85 million people.
The Sea currently suffers from extensive “eutrophication” from phosphate pollution that causes large-scale algae blooms, as well as overfishing, oil spills, waste from cruise ships, and an oxygen depleted-seabed, among other problems.
“HELCOM and its secretariat under executive secretary Anne Christine Brusendorff have taken marine environmental protection to a new level,” noted the award Jury in its citation.
“HELCOM has shown exemplary commitment to improving the Baltic Sea through the adoption of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. The Action Plan takes on the complexity of issues that need to be addressed in an innovative manner, linking it to ongoing initiatives and becoming the backbone of the environmental actions in the coming Baltic Sea Strategy.”
HELCOM works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. The organisation is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area", commonly known as the Helsinki Convention.
The award highlights important work towards halting the Baltic’s deterioration and improving its ecological balance. Because of its special geographical, climatological, and oceanographic characteristics, the Baltic is highly sensitive to the environmental impacts of human activities in its sea area and its catchment area, home to over 85 million people.
The Sea currently suffers from extensive “eutrophication” from phosphate pollution that causes large-scale algae blooms, as well as overfishing, oil spills, waste from cruise ships, and an oxygen depleted-seabed, among other problems.
“HELCOM and its secretariat under executive secretary Anne Christine Brusendorff have taken marine environmental protection to a new level,” noted the award Jury in its citation.
“HELCOM has shown exemplary commitment to improving the Baltic Sea through the adoption of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. The Action Plan takes on the complexity of issues that need to be addressed in an innovative manner, linking it to ongoing initiatives and becoming the backbone of the environmental actions in the coming Baltic Sea Strategy.”
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