Denmark as Chair of HELCOM eager to achieve good environmental status for the Baltic by 2021
Denmark is now holding the HELCOM Chairmanship. As it is stated by the organization committee of the Baltic Sea Forum, which is to be held in St. Petersburg on April 5-6, 2013, one of the Forum events will be a briefing with the participation of the Danish Minister for Trade and Investment to cover in detail the objectives and targets of Denmark within the framework of her chairmanship.
As Chair of HELCOM Denmark pays special attention to three aspects: first of all, Denmark is eager to achieve good environmental status for the Baltic by 2021. It was the main idea behind the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) adopted in 2007. Furthermore, the Action Plan was confirmed and followed-up at the HELCOM 2010 Ministerial Meeting in Moscow.
Towards the 2013 HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in Copenhagen the Danish Chairmanship will work for the evaluating the progress made so far on the implementation of the BSAP and reaching its ecological objectives, as the basis for the Ministerial Meeting to assess whether further measures may be needed to reach the targets of the BSAP by 2021. The key issue of the 2013 HELCOM Ministerial Meeting will be the approval of revised nutrient reduction requirements. Another crucial issue is the Baltic Sea NECA status.
Besides, the Danish Chairmanship will work for promoting and starting initiatives in areas where additional measures are needed in order to reach the goal. These areas comprise cleaning of waste water and treatment of agricultural waste.
The meeting will also cover the issues of marine litter, underwater noise, alien species, acidification of the sea and climate changes.
More over, the Danish Chairmanship will work for a continued development of HELCOM’s role in the Baltic Sea region as the environmental focal point to maintain and develop HELCOM as an efficient organisation that works effectively and correlates with other obligations of the Contracting Parties.
The Helsinki Commission, or 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.
HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area" - more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.
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