HELCOM Report 2010-2011 by BSPC Observers

Report on the Exercise of the Observer Status of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) at theBaltic Marine Environment Protection Commission(Helsinki Commission - HELCOM)between 2010 and 20111. Introduction[1]As commonly known, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, also known as Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea.As in the past, the representatives of the Standing Committee of the BSPC agreed on 29 August 2010 that Sylvia Bretschneider and Christina Gestrin would exercise the observer status in HELCOM with the mandate of following the deliberations of relevant HELCOM bodies. This report links with former reports which have been carried out regularly by the Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since it was mandated to exercise the observer status in HELCOM.This report offers an overview of the activities and measures HELCOM has launched and is planning to take with respect to restoring the environmental status of the Baltic Sea. The period under review extends in principle from the 19th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) in Mariehamn on 29-31 August 2010 to the 20th BSPC on 28-30 August 2011 in Helsinki. During this period the first meetings of the Joint HELCOM-VASAB Working Group and the HELCOM Agricultural/Environmental Forum were launched.By way of exeption due to their political importance and in order to gain a complete picture, some former meetings are included additionally:On 20 May 2010 the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting declared the intention of the Baltic Sea countries to reinforce joint efforts to restore the good ecological status of the Baltic Sea. This report also includes the 33rd meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 33/2010) on 23-24 August 2010.So this report reflects on three meetings of the Heads of Delegations (HOD):HOD 33/2010 focused on the arrangements of the new Agricultural/Environmental Forum and the Joint HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning. Also, the follow-up of the project Balthazar and the priorities of the Swedish chairmanship were on the agenda.The 34th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010) which took place on 8-9 December 2010 primarily discussed the outcome of the MONAS group and its projects, as well as the aspired joint submission to IMO to designate the Baltic Sea as NOx Emission Control Area (NECA).On 22 February 2011, a preparatory Heads of Delegation Meeting (HOD PREP 2011) prepared the high-level segment of the 2011 annual HELCOM Commission meeting which took place on 9 March 2011 in Helsinki. The high-level segment reviewed the progress in the national implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan for the recovery of the Baltic Sea (BSAP). All HELCOM Contracting Parties presented their National Implementation Plans (NIPs).The focus of the 32nd ordinary Helsinki Commission meeting, which took place on 9-10 March 2011 in Helsinki, also was the proposal to the IMO to designate the Baltic Sea as NECA as well as the outcome of the ending HELCOM SALAR project and the results of the project COHIBA.The 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011), held on 14-15 June 2011, also put an emphasis on the NECA submission, on the establishment of Green Baltic Spots as well as on the outcomes of several groups and projects.2. Cooperation between BSPC and HELCOMAs the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference intensively deals with policies regarding the protection of the environment of the Baltic Sea, it has since 2002 the status as observer to HELCOM. The long and good cooperation between HELCOM and BSPC is characterised by a mutual exchange of information and experiences. During the last year, an active participation of both sides at conferences and events has contributed to a fruitful cooperation.Therefore, Anne Christine Brusendorff, Executive Secretary of HELCOM, presented the activities of HELCOM as a bridge between science and policy-making at the 19th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. She focused on the HELCOM Initial Holistic Assessment of the Ecosystem Health of the Baltic Sea 2003–2007 and the still alarming status of the Baltic Sea. She mentioned the remaining problem of eutrophication, hazardous substances, shipping and effects of fishing practices on biodiversity. She welcomed that the Moscow Ministerial Declaration gives HELCOM a strong political basis for its future work and the implementation of the BSAP. She stressed that the support of the BSPC in future is important. Also, the Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea project (BRISK) has been presented at the 19th BSPC. In its resolution, BSPC underlined that it is maintaining its strong support to the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan as one of the main tools for the restoration of good ecological status of the Baltic Sea by 2021, regretting that not all HELCOM member states had managed – as they had agreed – to present national implementation plans at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in Moscow, and expecting that those countries that did not deliver national implementation plans will do so at the high-level meeting of HELCOM in early 2011 at the latest. Moreover, the BSPC call on the governments in the Baltic Sea Region, the CBSS and the EU, regarding Co-operation in the Region, to fulfil their already agreed obligations under the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, in particular – concerning those who have not already done so – by producing concrete National Implementation Plans by early 2011 at the latest; and to strengthen the joint regional as well as national preparedness and capacity to tackle major spills of oil and hazardous substances, for instance by sub-regional preparations, co-ordination and exercises, as pursued in the HELCOM BRISK project, and by procuring sufficient supplies of oil spill and hazardous substances recovery equipment.On 24 March 2011 the Working Group on Integrated Maritime Policy of the BSPC held its 5th session in Stockholm. Mr. Bernd Stedt, Chairman of the HELCOM RESPONSE group had been invited as an expert to speak about the topic of “Oil Spill Risk Management and the question if we are prepared for a major oil spill in the Baltic Sea”. He presented the work of the RESPONSE Group and underlined that the group had worked on requirements for emergencies and response capacities. He explained that the present status of the Baltic Sea Area response capacity was in comparison to many regions quite well prepared.Due to this existing cooperation, the Committee on European and Legal Affairs of the parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, among it some members of the delegation to the BSPC, were warmly welcomed by the HELCOM Executive Secretary, Ms. Brusendorff, at HELCOM’s in May 2011. On the agenda of the visit of the parliamentarians was the current work, the actual achievement and progress in the work of HELCOM as well as the remaining challenges regarding the restoring of good ecological status of the Baltic Sea.3. Programme of the Swedish ChairmanshipSweden assumes the chairmanship of HELCOM from 1 July 2010 till 30 June 2012. Ms. Gabriella Lindholm, Ambassador for the Marine Environment at the Swedish Ministry of Environment, has been nominated by the Government of Sweden as Chairlady of HELCOM.Sweden has set up a five- point Programme:1. The implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) should be strengthened to reduce pollution to the marine environment and restore its good ecological status by 2021. The outcome of the Moscow HELCOM Ministerial Meeting can therefore be seen as a momentum for regional action to carry out the National Implementation Programmes (NIP’s) to achieve the objectives of the action plan. Nevertheless, Sweden pointed out that the availability and allocation of administrative and financial resources are very important for the success of the programmes. Therefore, national funding could be combined with resources from international and regional financing institutions, such as the NIB and NEFCO Technical Assistance Funds. Sweden will also prioritize continued and increased involvement of stakeholders in the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.2. Sweden wants to hold regular high-level meetings in order to provide continued support from the highest political level and to engage in political discussions. The Baltic Sea Action Summit held in Helsinki in February 2010 has been referred to as a success. Sweden confirmed that HELCOM and the Baltic Sea Action Plan have a high rank on the political agenda. Nevertheless, Sweden would like to see more regular attention from the highest political level, especially with regard to the upcoming implementation of the BSAP.3. The role of HELCOM as a focal point of Baltic Sea environmental issues and policy-maker in the region should be strengthened and modernized. According to Sweden, there is a need for HELCOM to reconfirm itself as a strong, powerful and modern regional organization.4. Also a better coordination between the work of HELCOM and the EU related work is an objective of the Swedish chairmanship, especially in regard to the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Adopted during the Swedish EU-presidency, this is a major policy initiative to give more attention to the Baltic Sea region on the European level. Regional marine commissions, like HELCOM, will also play a key role in the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. During the Swedish Chairmanship of HELCOM, priority will be given to ensuring that the Baltic Sea Action Plan and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive go hand in hand.5. Sweden wants also to ensure that HELCOM’s decisions are based on the best available scientific knowledge. Sweden is of the opinion that good monitoring is crucial and that scientific data is the point of departure for the future work of HELCOM.4. Implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP)a. National Implementation Plans (NIP’s), the NIP project and stakeholder meetingsAccording to the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (HELCOM BSAP), National Implementation Plans (NIPs) had to be developed and submitted for HELCOM’s assessment by 2010 with a view to evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes and to establish whether additional measures are needed at the HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 2013.The countries agreed to a flexible approach in choosing the cost-effective measures to be implemented in order to reach the country-wise provisional nutrient reduction targets and to achieve a good ecological and environmental status of the Baltic Sea with regard to eutrophication.At the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial meeting on 20 May 2010, almost all countries presented their NIPs. It was decided that an assessment should be done in co-operation with the International Financial Institutions and other stakeholders, taking into account available funding programmes with the objective to identify, facilitate and speed up the preparation of activities aiming at implementing the BSAP, including bankable investment projects.The 33rd meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 33/2010) discussed how to evaluate national implementation programmes for the BSAP as requested by the Moscow Ministerial Meeting and revised the draft Terms of Reference for the assessment of the NIP’s with a focus on eutrophication and hazardous substances. It also discussed the description of a project forming a study group of experts from the Contracting Parties and IFIs for identifying suitable, bankable projects (NIP project) and asked the Contracting Parties for comments. The final version of the Terms of Reference as well as the project was approved via e-mail consultation on 8th October 2010. The objectives of the project are to identify, facilitate and speed up the preparation of activities aimed at implementing the BSAP at regional level, to identify measures presented in the NIPs that have potential of being developed into concrete projects and to identify region-wide approaches for joint problems. The project should also propose steps to approach available funding programmes and establish a dialogue on how to further strengthen and implement the NIP on the national level.The NIP project manager presented the progress of the project at the 34th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010). The meeting thanked Sweden and Finland for their financial contribution to the project. The meeting urged the NIP project to focus on assisting the countries in identifying concrete actions and projects to be implemented as well as to support matching the projects and funding sources with the aim to give added value by addressing measures that are needed in addition to the EU and global frameworks. Therefore, the project should be actively engaged in the dialogue with countries and potential project owners. The meeting encouraged the Contracting Parties to make use of available resources of the BSAP FUND which can also provide support to projects to be identified by the NIP project.Two stakeholder conferences were arranged within the framework of the NIP project. A stakeholder meeting was organized by Sweden on regional implementation of the BSAP on 21 January 2011. The purpose of the workshop was to provide an exchange of experiences between local and regional actors and the Task Team that has been reviewing the costal countries’ National Implementation Programmes to achieve the objectives of the HELCOM action plan. The main focus of the discussions was on the implementation of the plan’s eutrophication and maritime segments. Experiences from both local initiatives and cross-bordering projects were presented, especially with regard to nutrient recycling, cost effective measures to reduce nutrient loss from agriculture, the integrated utilisation of sewage sludge and upgrading port reception facilities.A second meeting on upgrading reception facilities for sewage in passenger ports of the Baltic Sea took place in Gdynia on 4 March 2011. In order to get a better overview of the plans for and challenges in upgrading reception facilities to a new MARPOL standard, a questionnaire has been distributed to the priority ports. The outcome was discussed during the meeting in Gdynia which noted that on a number of issues cooperation between governments, ports and shipping industry is still needed, for instance with regard to the quality of sewage from ships and its possible negative impact on the treatment process in the municipal sewage treatment plants or with regard to necessary investments in ports with regard to PRF for sewage.The 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission noted with satisfaction that all Contracting Parties have submitted their National Implementation Programmes. The meeting took note that several actions have been accomplished and many other are ongoing within the implementation of the BSAP. It stressed that the implementation needs both further initiation of projects as well as policy adjustment and development. The meeting urged the Contracting Parties to inform the NIP project on potential projects and stakeholders that would benefit from a visit of the project and the NIB/NEFCO BSAP Trust Fund.Moreover, the 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) urged the Contracting Parties to make use of the BSAP Trust Fund and noted that the NIP project will continue its work throughout the year 2011to support the countries in identifying and elaborating projects with the financial assistance of the Trust fund. Another point of discussion was the question how the progress on implementation of the BSAP and information from the NIPs on biodiversity and maritime activities can be reflected.b. High level segment of the 32nd meeting of the Helsinki CommissionPrior to the high-level-segment, a Heads of Delegation meeting took place in February 2011 preparing the high-level-segment. The outcome of the high-level-segment is the Communiqué “Progress in the national implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan for the recovery of the Baltic Sea”, contained in the Annex of this report. A background document was prepared by the HELCOM Secretariat and the HELCOM NIP Project as working document.The high-level-segment took place on 9 March 2011 in Helsinki and was chaired by Ms. Asa-Britt Karlsson, Sweden. She underlined the importance of having a checkpoint with regard to the implementation of the BSAP. The aim of this meeting is to consider the implementation process. She stressed that with regard to Waste Water Treatment great progresses can be noticed and that hard work has been done, nevertheless a lot of work still remains.From the Swedish point of view, policy reforms and concrete projects as well as long term and short term actions are needed. She underlined that without local engagements, the implementation process would not be successful.Ms. Helle Pilsgaard, Deputy Director-General, Danish Nature Agency, Ministry for the Environment Denmark, reported on the Danish efforts to control nutrient inputs and threats to biodiversity. She also talked about milestones undertaken in Denmark concerning targeted efforts to improve the quality of the aquatic environment. Denmark has implemented three Water Action Plans for the Baltic Sea as well as for the North Sea. She said that the input of nitrogen from agriculture has been halved and the total inputs from point sources has been reduced from 27, 000 tonnes of nitrogen to less than 7, 000 tonnes. The Danish River Basin Management Plans include new farming practices, which shall assure to reduce the input of nitrogen. These new practices include the establishment of 10,000 ha wetlands, establishing 50,000 ha of buffer strips along rivers and streams and the requirement of a 25 meter buffer zone around ground water drillings for potable water. 23 % of the Danish territorial sea in the Baltic Sea are declared Natura 2000 areas. Ms. Pilsgaard has also mentioned that the water and nature plans will be implemented simultaneously. At the same time Denmark is preparing the next steps in implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.Ms. Rita Annus, Secretary General, Ministry of the Environment Estonia, reported that her country adopted the National Implementation Plan at the end of 2008 and since then Estonia has been implementing it. She considered that all members can achieve the aims by cooperation between national and HELCOM partners. Besides the BSAP, Estonia implements its own National Integrated Maritime Policy. The Estonian government sees the development of marine and maritime governance capacity as a fundamental framework for the utilization of an integrated and ecosystem approach. This approach equally values human life, marine environment protection and sustainability of marine and coastal ecosystem services. She explained that Estonia develops its integrated marine and maritime governance capacity in the coming years. Estonia sees the implementation of marine spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management as an expression of marine space and coastal zone use.Mr. Karl Falkenberg, Director-General of DG ENV of the European Commission, remarked that besides the MSFD there is a lot of existing EU legislation. With regard to the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, the Baltic Sea can be seen as a test if such strategies of the EU are effective. Subsidiarity as well as the Russian participation is very important for ensuring that the Baltic Sea returns to health. Progress has been made; nevertheless a lot of work has still to be done. HELCOM is in the forefront by improving strategies and the efforts made are remarkable. Constructive approaches with regard to environmental policies will be developed by the EU with very specific targets, ex: fisheries, agriculture. Concrete actions in agriculture will be more in line with e.g. biodiversity. Phosphate remains one of the biggest problems. One aim of the EU policy is to use the economic space of the sea without destroying it.Hannele Pokka, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment Finland, summarized that a good progress in several areas such as environment protection in maritime activities, conservation of biodiversity and load reduction of nutrients from point sources has been made. Finland has already reached the target set for nitrogen. Despite the success regarding nitrogen, the situation for phosphorus is more problematic. Targets are set, but in order to reach the reduction goal the plans have to be implemented. That is why intense actions are needed, especially for discharges from diffuse sources. The implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan is integrated into various national water protection programmes. One of the programmes contains concrete actions in all major sectors for the agriculture, wastewater treatment, fish farming, forestry and industry. The aim is to reduce the nutrient load in these sectors. To improve the state of the Archipelago Sea, though it is not included in the targets set in 2007, Finland has promised to intensify measures in national plans by 2020. The government has particularly focused on reducing nutrient loads from agriculture, on wastewater discharges from sparsely populated areas and on municipal wastewater treatment. Finland shall become an example region in the recycling of nutrients. Finland has and will improve its oil and chemical spill response capacities. A good and long-term cooperation with international financial institutions provides a sound basis for further actions. Mostly needed is a strong commitment by the Contracting Parties and all stakeholders.Mr. Fritz Holzwarth, Deputy Director General for water-management, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation und Nuclear Safety Germany, said that from Germany’s point of view the top priority of maritime protection policy in Europe is implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive by enhancing a good cooperation with Russia. But the developments in the context of the implementation process of the MSFD and HELCOM has to be monitored. He also focused on eutrophication. According to his report, Germany has put much emphasis on implementing the Directive on Urban Waste Water Treatment, having achieved a connection rate of 96 %. But the nutrient inputs from agriculture remain the biggest challenge. Germany is happy to discuss this issue during the Agricultural/Environmental Forum which is in Germany’s point of view a prime example for an integrated policy approach. Mr. Holzwarth has underlined that all countries around the Baltic Sea are concerned about climate change and the need to change energy production patterns. It is dangerous and unacceptable to focus on energy crops only and move from CO2 emissions into the air to nutrient emissions into water. Nutrient reduction must in no way be consumed by the consequences of intensive biomass production. In Mr. Holzwarth’s view, the joint Working Group with VASAB will be the most relevant tool in the future when it comes to balancing use and protection of the marine ecosystems. With regard to IMO-related HELCOM activities, he stressed that it might be recommended to strengthen the cooperation with the IMO and that the current NECA initiative is the latest evidence for an adequate focussed attempt.Mr. Andris Eglajs, Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, pointed out that responsibility of the Baltic Sea States has increased. In fact, HELCOM has become an important coordinating platform for the regional implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Latvia sees the HELCOM Action Plan and the MSFD as mutually complementary. Mr. Eglajs explained that next to large scale projects also improvements in small settlements should be made e.g. the improvement of their wastewater treatment. In his opinion it is important to identify cost-effective solutions to cut down the emissions of pollutants. Therefore, the development of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is of great importance. In Latvia a substantial part of the national implementation programme is devoted to enhancing knowledge about the distribution and pollution level in the waters.A new law on Marine Environment Protection and Management, adopted last year, will favour limitation of polluting activity in the sea. The development of Maritime Spatial Planning is also an issue in Latvia. A well-structured cross-border coordination is needed and Maritime Spatial Planning principles for the Baltic Sea would help a lot. He stressed that environmental problems need a solution which goes beyond regional limits. An efficient use of natural resources is advantageous for the development. Nature as a Future Capital is one of the major priorities.Mr. Aleksandras Spruogis, Vice Minister of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania, said that the National Strategy on Protection of the Baltic Sea Environment, adopted last year, focuses mainly on implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and covers all its pillars. The goal of the Lithuanian strategy is to achieve and maintain good environmental status of the sea by the year 2020. Mr. Spruogis cross-referenced the five major objectives and concrete measures which were included into the national action plan for a five year period ranging from 2010 to 2015. These measures are planned in order to improve the legal system and ensure implementation of actions such as the reduction of nutrient inputs from agricultural sources and to ensure proper treatment of wastewater discharged from all municipal wastewater treatment facilities directly or indirectly to the marine environment at least 90 % of total phosphorus and 75 % of nitrogen. He listed the main measures to be implemented by the end of 2011 and end of 2015 respectively. He also has said that a process, which combines all efforts of the countries together with international and EU policies including all available financial instruments regarding a smooth and successful implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan is needed.Mr. Andrzej Jagusiewiccz, Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection in Poland, gave a short summary about the Polish activities according to the implementation of the BSAP. He also has said that the eutrophication of the Baltic waters is the biggest threat and the reduction its biggest challenge. Lowering the pressures is crucial when combating eutrophication. He thereafter presented details about the status of the four battle fronts. The national programme for municipal wastewater treatment is dynamically implemented by upgrading and expanding sewage wastewater treatment. More than 345 waste-water related projects achieve results. Lowering diffuse pressure from agriculture is in progress. Poland is going to introduce P-free detergents and decreases nitrate emissions to the air. In total, 23% of the Polish Baltic coast is protected. There is progress in developing port reception facilities for sewage reception in the port of Gdynia and Szczecin. The National Implementation Programme in Poland covers all segments of the BSAP and meetings with stakeholders and coastal voivodships took place to activate self-government in actions within BSAP.Mr. Igor I. Maydanov, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment of the Russian Federation, affirmed Russia’s support for the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Russia would consider it an initiative of the highest political importance for the protection of the Baltic Sea. Russia also has assured a wider participation of stakeholders in the implementation. Russia plans to involve more Russian financial institutions into private-public partnership to implement the BSAP. Mr. Maydanov explained that the elaboration of a comprehensive list of municipal wastewater treatment plans is one of the top issues. As an example he highlighted the development of the wastewater system and the treatment of municipal wastewater in St. Petersburg and other regions and the financial resources which were mobilized. But he also focused on agriculture, which remains one of the major sources of nutrient inputs to the Baltic Sea and is mainly considered a diffuse source of pollution as the nutrients affecting the Baltic Sea enter indirectly via runoff in the watershed area.The impacts of agriculture can be reduced by means of broad application of Good Agricultural Practices at farmlands within the catchment of the Baltic. The intensified development of industrial production of cattle, pigs and poultry within the Baltic Sea area has led to the creation of a new segment of pollution point sources, contributing significantly to the amount of nutrient loads. Therefore, he presented information about the efforts made in different regions. With regard to the hazardous substances segment of the BSAP, the Russian Federation has already released financial resources for constructions.Ms. Pauli Merriman, WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme, on behalf of the Coalition Clean Baltic and WWF, called the Baltic Sea Action Plan an important first step towards achieving a good environmental status and recovery of the Baltic Sea ecosystem. She criticized that there would exist a surprising lack of progress, concerned initiatives and concrete actions to reduce nutrient input from agriculture, to control the spread of hazardous substances, reduce the impacts from fisheries and to protect biodiversity. She also criticized that no minister participated in this conference. But she stated that there are some important areas of progress in the BSAP. This includes the building and upgrading of wastewater treatment plans around the region. Ms. Merriman criticized on the one hand that if HELCOM would have outlined where actions are needed, financial institutions would have contributed with funding but that on the other hand the political will of the countries was missing.Mr. Anders Alm, NIB and NEFCO, explained to the audience that the BSAP Fund is managed by the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) based on contributions from HELCOM parties. The fund provides grants for primarily technical assistance to projects that support the implementation of the BSAP. The Funds’ target is to boost the implementation phase of the BSAP. The NIB and NEFCO will together with the HELCOM Secretariat identify potential partners for implementing the National Implementation Plans. He explained for which initiatives the funding can be used for.The following discussion focused on agriculture as one of the main sources of pollution.c. Follow-up of the Baltic Sea Action SummitOne year after the Baltic Sea Action Summit (BSAS), which was held in Helsinki in February 2010, a follow-up event was arranged in Helsinki on 10 February 2011 by the President of the Republic of Finland, the Prime Minister and the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG).The objective of the Summit was to follow-up on the progress of the commitments made at the BSAS. Norway and Belarus as well as the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries presented the progress of their respective commitments. All countries informed that work on fulfilling the commitments is ongoing, e.g. as shown by reports on decreases of 50%, respectively 30% in the nitrogen and phosphorus reduction targets in the BSAP. The 167 commitments are divided into five focus areas following the structure of the BSAP. Of all 167 commitments, 20 commitments were completed and 124 were progressing in the first year. Only 23 commitments were not progressing, mostly because suitable partners need to be found. The BSAS follow-up event in 2012 is planned to be arranged in Russia.5. Groups / Working Groupsa. LAND (Land-based pollution group)Reducing pollution from all on-land sources within the Baltic Seas region is the aim of the Land-based Pollution Group (HELCOM LAND). It identifies sources of land-based pollution of nutrients and hazardous substances, and proposes suitable measures and actions to reduce these emissions and discharges. The objective is to reduce inputs of nutrients, especially from diffuse sources such as agriculture and transport. Priority areas of LAND are eutrophication and hazardous substances. Also a priority is the implementation of the Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme (JCP) with the aim to facilitate the implementation of pollution reduction measures at the most polluted sites in the Baltic Sea and the “Hot Spot” label. The JCP specifies a series of actions to be done at "pollution hot spots" around the Baltic Sea catchment area. The List of JCP Hot Spots was established in 1992.The 16th meeting of LAND was held from 18 to 20 May 2011 in Dessau, Germany. The Meeting discussed the follow-up of national implementation of the BSAP and invited the Contracting Parties to provide further written information on the implementation of the BSAP to the Secretariat. A topic was the current situation of waste water treatment from scattered settlements and the proposal to coordinate activities in this field with Priority Area 1 of the EU SBSR. The meeting discussed furthermore the idea of establishing a “Green List” as a tool to facilitate implementation of the BSAP and to promote best national examples in various sectors (for details see below under 10.k). The meeting also agreed with the proposal by Denmark in coordination with Finland and Sweden to prepare a proposal on possible revision of the working structure of HELCOM LAND and to present it at the next meeting of HELCOM LAND. It considered the preliminary outcome of the COHIBA Project (for details on the project COHIBA, see below 10. a.) and the revision of HELCOM Recommendations for separate industrial sectors. Further discussions followed on the state of implementation of HELCOM JCP and the deletion of hot spots. The meeting noted that Denmark and Sweden for LAND 17/2012 will elaborate a paper on the deletion of their diffuse agricultural hot spots. The Contracting Parties concurred that the JCP should be completed by 2012, however the list of remaining active hot spots after its completion could be included as a separate annex to the Ministerial Declaration of 2013 HELCOM Ministerial Meeting.As decided at the 15th meeting of LAND in January 2010, the group will have two vice-chairs - one dealing with eutrophication and one with hazardous substances. The 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) took note of the information by Poland that they will reconsider until HOD 36/2011 a Vice-Chair of LAND for hazardous substances to be nominated. HOD 35/2011 also approved the deletion of four Lithuanian Hot Spots from the list of JCP Hot Spots and congratulated Lithuania for these environmental improvements. In June 2011, out of the total number of 162 hot spots, 94 have been deleted.The 17th meeting of HELCOM LAND (LAND 17/2012) will be arranged in May 2012 in Poland, back-to-back with the meeting of the Agricultural/Environmental Forum.b. MONAS (Monitoring and Assessment Group)The HELCOM Monitoring and Assessment Group (MONAS) assesses trends in threats to the marine environment, their impacts, the resulting state of the marine environment and the effectiveness of adopted measures. MONAS provides information to other groups and projects of HELCOM and is the basis for their work. MONAS aims to ensure that HELCOM’s monitoring programmes are efficiently used and coordinates and implements the monitoring and assessment activities of HELCOM. MONAS is also responsible for technical and scientifical support with regard to the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.The 13th meeting of HELCOM MONAS (MONAS 13/2010) took place on 4-8 October 2010 in St. Petersburg where actions with regard to the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan and the Moscow Ministerial Declaration relevant to HELCOM MONAS were discussed. Other topics were assessments and project reports connected with HELCOM Recommendations under HELCOM MONAS, Indicator Fact Sheets and the development of the core set of indicators as well as matters connected with environmental monitoring and data. MONAS 13/2010 recognized that the HELCOM CORESET and HELCOM TARGREV projects should be considered as the first step in the process of revising the HELCOM monitoring programme.The 34th Head of Delegation meeting on 8-9 December 2010 (HOD 34/2010) endorsed the view of MONAS that the ecosystem approach of BSAP and EU MSFD should be the starting point for the monitoring revision and that the revision should take into account the result of the HELCOM CORESET and TARGREV projects. Furthermore, it was decided that in the future, MONAS will meet twice a year with more thematic and focused meetings. An updated working programme of MONAS for 2009-2011 was approved. The meeting welcomed the election of Ms. Barbara Frank, Germany, as new Vice-chair of MONAS for a two year period (2010-2012). HOD 34/2010 also established a HELCOM MONAS Expert Group on Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MORS EG) (for details see below 10. g.).On 31 March 2011, a one-day workshop, partly organized as a joint meeting with HELCOM TARGREV, was held to update the core eutrophication indicators, to check the status of missing indicators, to ensure good coordination with the work of the HELCOM TARGREV project and to consider how to secure the data flow in order to automate the annual updating of the core set indicators.The 14th meeting of HELCOM MONAS (MONAS 14/2011) was held in Ispra, Italy on 13-15 April 2011. The focus was on the finalisation of the preliminary core indicators and targets as well as nutrient load assessment related issues.The 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) agreed after long discussion on the establishment of a separate project for the revision of HELCOM monitoring programmes (HELCOM MORE). The project should develop guidelines for an optimised, scientifically based and cost-efficient joint HELCOM monitoring programme which provides the necessary data for HELCOM’s Baltic-wide indicator-based assessment activities. The importance of such an initiative due to the requirements of global agreements, BSAP and European Policies were mentioned at the 32nd Meeting of the Helsinki Commission and HOD 35/2011. Considering comments from Denmark, HOD 35/2011 agreed that the project should not have an influence on the budget and welcomed the financial contribution by Sweden of 20,000 € to the project.The project MORE should furthermore encourage cooperation between HELCOM and OSPAR (North East Atlantic) and should establish guidelines for monitoring for further consideration by the Contracting Parties. The meeting agreed with regard to the comments and a study reservation made by Denmark to take the final decision about the project intersessionally.Upon the recommendation of MONAS 14/2011, HOD 35/2011 approved the project for Quality Assurance and Integration of Zooplankton Monitoring in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM ZEN QAI) for the period 2011-2013. Furthermore HOD 35/2011 supported cooperation between HABITAT and MONAS as it concerns Baltic Sea Monitoring, indicator development and assessments, because biodiversity related monitoring issues addressing HABITAT should not be separated from MONAS.The fifteenth Meeting of HELCOM MONAS will take place on 4-7 October 2011 in Vilnius and the sixteenth Meeting on 11-13 April 2012 in Warsaw.c. HABITAT (Nature Protection and Biodiversity Group)The Nature Protection and Biodiversity Group (HELCOM HABITAT) compiles information on ecosystems and habitats to ensure that suitable information on habitats, species and the conservation of biodiversity is available. Therefore, HABITAT identifies and assesses the current and potential impacts of human activities on Baltic marine biodiversity (ecosystems/habitats, species and genetic diversity) and makes concrete proposals for consideration by HELCOM's other groups and projects.As an outcome of the last year, it has to be noted that the database in harbour porpoise sightings, by-catch and strandings will be maintained and updated in the future by the HELCOM secretariat. The project was developed under ASCOBANS and until recently hosted by the German Forschungs- und Technologiezentrum Westküste der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (FTZ).The 13th meeting of HABITAT (HABITAT 13/2011) took place on 24-27 May 2011 in Copenhagen. As tasked by the 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission in March 2011, HABITAT 13/2011 discussed the final draft of HELCOM Recommendation on conservation of Baltic salmon and sea trout populations by the restoration of their river habitats and management of river fisheries taking into account comments of the Contracting Parties. The meeting was of the opinion that none of the strength of the superseding Recommendation 19/2 should be lost with the adoption of the new recommendation.The meeting agreed further to reconsider the publishing of supplementary material to the report “Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea: An integrated thematic assessment on biodiversity and nature conservation in the Baltic Sea” at a later stage. Moreover, it agreed to continue the initiated process of a technical review of the Recommendations under HABITAT as well as to discuss changes in the Terms of References during HABITAT 14/2012. It considered the project proposal “Managing fisheries in Baltic marine protected areas” (BALTFIMPA). Further topics were the status of Baltic Sea Protected Areas and the progress of the HELCOM Red List (for further details: see below under 10. j.). The meeting welcomed the progress of the ad hoc Expert group on cormorants which was established in summer 2010. The meeting re-elected Ms. Katarzyna Kaminska, Poland, as Chair and Ms. Penina Blankett, Finland, as Vice-Chair for the two-year period 2011-2013.The 35th meeting of Heads of Delegation in June 2011 (HOD 35/2011) encouraged continuing the cooperation between HABITAT and Priority Area 2 of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea for preservation of natural zones and biodiversity, including fisheries. The Work Programme 2011-2013 of HABITAT was endorsed by HOD 35/2011. The meeting adopted the Recommendation on conservation of Baltic salmon and sea trout by underlining that this recommendation supplements the existing Recommendation 19/2. It welcomed the progress of work of the HELCOM ad hoc Seal Expert group which will hold its Fifth Meeting on 20-21 September 2011 in Tallinn. With regard to the project proposal of BALTFIMPA the meeting noted the study reservations by Germany and Finland and that the European Commission will provide general information on the project proposal at a later stage.The next meeting of HABITAT will take place on 22-23 May 2012. Latvia explores its possibilities to host the meeting and will provide an answer at the latest to the HOD 36 meeting in December 2011.d. MARITIME (Maritime group) including proposals to the IMO(1.) The Maritime GroupThe Maritime Group of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM MARITIME) is responsible for the prevention of pollution from ships. This also includes deliberate operational discharges and accidental pollution. The group wants to ensure that adopted regulations are observed and enforced effectively and uniformly through international co-operation. It works to identify and promote actions to limit sea-based pollution and to ensure safe navigation.A meeting of the HELCOM Expert Working Group for Mutual Exchange and Deliveries of Automatic Identification System (AIS) was held on 27-28 October 2010 in Gdynia. An amended agreement on Access to AIS Information has been signed by all HELCOM Contracting Parties except Russia.The ninth meeting of the MARITME group (9/2010) was held on 9-11 November 2010 in Sweden. The Meeting re-elected Ms. Lolan Margaretha Eriksson, Finland, as Chair and Mr. Jorma Kämäräinen, Finland, as Vice-Chair and elected Ms. Natalia Kutaeva, Russia, as Vice-Chair for the next two-year period (2011-2012). The meeting took note of the information that several countries have already covered the maritime activities in their National Implementation Plans (NIPs). The Meeting requested the Contracting Parties to present extracts of their national implementation regarding maritime activities at the next meeting of MARITIME. Further, the meeting discussed issues related to ballast waters, matters related to safety of navigation as well as the implementation of the Strategy for Port Reception Facilities (PRF) for Ship-Generated Wastes.The 34th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010) has adopted the Terms of References for the Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities to facilitate the implementation of the HELCOM Roadmap for upgrading PRF for passenger ports in the Baltic Sea. It has also adopted the project proposal of MARITIME “Pilot risk assessment of alien species transfer on intra-Baltic ship voyages” and welcomed the special contribution of Finland and Sweden to the project and welcomed that Denmark and Germany considered a possible contribution on their side.A HELCOM meeting of experts in maritime safety was held on 22 February 2011 in Malmö. The result was an identification of areas of enhanced regional cooperation on navigational safety. The 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission concurred that such a network of experts on shipping safety will provide a platform for promoting better coordination on maritime safety on a regional level. The meeting also adopted a draft Voluntary Guidance on ballast water exchange for shipping routes between the Mediterranean Sea and the North-East Atlantic and/or the Baltic Sea. It agreed that the implementation date of the Guidance will be three months after the approval of the Guidance by relevant commissions/organisations.The next meeting of the MARITIME group will take place on 15-17 November 2011 and will be hosted by Finland. For information about the work of MARITIME regarding joint submissions to IMO (see section 6 below).(2) Proposals to the IMO(a.) Regulations for sewage discharge from passengers shipsA joint proposal by the Baltic Sea countries to designate the Baltic Sea as a special area for sewage discharges from passenger ships under the amended Annex IV of the MARPOL Convention was applied to the IMO. The proposal has been developed by the HELCOM MARITIME Group under the leadership of Finland. At the 61st session of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 61), held from 27 September to 1 October 2010, the proposal was approved. Even if the global agreement on the new regulation had already been achieved, some details of standards for onboard treatment of sewage needed still discussions on a technical level in IMO. To facilitate this discussion, HOD 34/2010 had in principle adopted a joint submission developed by HELCOM MARITIME to the 55th session of the IMO’s Design and Equipment Sub-Committee on 21-25 March 2011. The final adoption of the designation – as an amendment to MARPOL - was carried out by MEPC 62 on 11-15 July 2011.The new regulations are part of the set of measures to combat eutrophication included in the BSAP. It prohibits passenger ships operating in the Baltic Sea Special Area to discharge untreated sewage to the sea. Now ships are required to treat sewage onboard to remove nutrients before it is discharged, or deliver it to the port reception facility. The regulation will be applied as soon as all HELCOM Contracting Parties are able to receive in their passenger ports large quantities of sewage from the ships.(b.) Application for designating the Baltic Sea as NOx Emission Control Area (NECA)The new MARPOL Annex VI regulations provide a legal framework for reducing NOx emissions from ships. The worldwide Tier II regulations came into effect on 1 January 2011, requiring that a marine diesel engine installed on a ship constructed on or after that date achieves a 15-20% reduction level compared to the previous legislation. More stringent requirements are possible if a sea area is designated as a NOx Emission Control Area (NECA), requiring ships constructed on or after 1 January 2016 operating in a NECA to reduce their NOx emission by 80% (Tier III). A sea area can be designated as a NOx Emission Control Area upon initiative of the coastal countries. Since the adoption of the NECA regulations in 2008, one NOx Emission Control Area has been designated worldwide in waters of US and Canada.Since 2008 the Baltic Sea countries work on the joint proposal to IMO to designate the Baltic Sea as a NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) under Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention. The NECA Correspondence Group under the leadership of Finland has been established to make an overview of the research studies and to prepare a draft for submission. Since 2008, extensive studies on the effect of shipping emissions on eutrophication and its harmful effects on human health, as well as studies on the economic impacts of this measure have been carried out. Comprehensive analyses were finalised in 2010 to estimate the NOx emissions from ships operating in the Baltic Sea area, and the impact of the emissions on air quality, ecosystems and human health. A HELCOM study “Baltic NECA – economic impacts” has been made by the Centre of Maritime Studies of the University of Turku.The studies have confirmed that NOx emissions from shipping contribute significantly to air pollution, have adverse effects on human health, especially in big coastal cities, and contribute to the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. According to a HELCOM study, the abated nitrogen from maritime traffic is approximately as cost efficient as from agriculture and wastewater treatment. Abatement costs would decrease, and cost efficiency would increase if more NECA areas near the Baltic Sea were established. It will take 20-30 years to achieve full environmental benefits of NECA, and likewise, the costs to industry will be reduced gradually. The Baltic Sea NECA would lead, in the long run, to the reduction of NOx emissions from ships in the Baltic by approximately 80% compared to the current estimated level of 357,000 tonnes in 2009. This will contribute to curbing eutrophication – the biggest environmental problem of the Baltic Sea.The Moscow Ministerial Meeting in 2010 decided that 2011 would be a preferable year for the submission of the proposal to IMO.The 34th meeting of Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010) discussed the issue. Denmark commented that with regard to the outcome of the study on economic impact, the costs of NECA would be marginal as only new ships would be subject to new requirements and that NECA seems to be a very cost-efficient measure to reduce NOx emissions. In contrast, Russia pointed out that the economic study indicates additional costs to the industry. The Correspondence Group explained that new information on NECA costs has been received from the Contracting Parties and will be included in the draft.Between MARITIME 9/2010 on 9-11 November 2010 and the 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM 32/2011), the Correspondence Group has continued its work. The aim was to have a final decision at 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM 32/2011).HELCOM 32/2011 acknowledged the extensive work that has been done to collect the information for the NECA application and took note of the report of the Correspondence Group. The meeting agreed that the Baltic Sea should be designated as a NECA but realized that some Contracting Parties were not yet ready to take an immediate decision for submission. Russia said that there is still a need for further assessment of the effect of possible slowing down of fleet renewal in the Baltic due to the NECA measures, energy efficiency regulations under the IMO discussions which will have a bearing on the NOx emissions, infrastructure of urea supply for Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology. Latvia explained that in its point of view NECA should also be established at the North Sea because of cost efficiencies. That is why Latvia would like to postpone the application until North and Baltic Sea apply simultaneously. This would have positive environmental and cost efficiency effects. Denmark, Sweden and Poland objected that all necessary analysis have already been made and were in favour for an immediate submission of the proposed text. The meeting welcomed the efforts of the North Sea countries on designation the North Sea as NECA in the near future. The meeting requested the Contracting Parties to list which aspects of the submission might still be missing in the proposal and to inform the HELCOM secretariat and the Correspondence Group by 15 April 2011.So the 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) considered the progress report on the development of the joint submission including the comments and requests for information submitted by the Contracting Parties. The meeting agreed to insert a new section to the submission on additional investment costs of SCR units due to the use of exhaust gas cleaning systems of SOx emissions. Russia made additional comments related to SCR technology and its shortcomings. The Russian Federation stressed that the reference to a single technology in the NECA application may give too much emphasis to it and delay the development of other solutions to reduce NOx. Following the Russian proposal, the meeting agreed to split the document in two parts. The first section contains the joint submission proposing the Baltic Sea as NECA in which the technical description of SCR is limited. The second part is an information document to the IMO containing details of SCR and other alternative technologies to reduce NOx emissions from ships. The Chair of the Correspondence Group reported that SCR has been installed on some 300 ships and has been tested for a long period of time. He explained that all engine manufactures prepare to supply technology to meet the IMO tier III of MARPOL Annex VI and that the IMO will launch a process to review the availability of technology to meet tier III in 2012. As no documents on costs of using other technologies are yet available, the meeting agreed to keep the SCR costs estimate as the basis for the estimations in the draft submission. The meeting requested HELCOM MARITIME 10/2011 which will take place on 15-17 November 2011 to further discuss the submission. A final decision will be taken by HOD 36/2011 in December 2011.e. RESPONSE (Response group)The task of the HELCOM RESPONSE group is to ensure swift national and international response to maritime pollution accidents. Therefore, the right equipment and routines have to be on site. The group analyses developments in maritime transport to investigate possible impacts. It coordinates the aerial surveillance of maritime shipping routes to provide a complete picture of pollution, and to help identify suspected polluters.In order to ensure the co-operation in case of a pollution incident, the Contracting Parties regularly carry out exercises. One of these exercises is the annual BALEX DELTA exercise. It tests the alarm procedures and response capability of the Contracting Parties in case of a major accident and an international response operation. The general objective of BALEX DELTA is to ensure that every contracting party is able to lead a major response operation. On 24 August 2010 the BALEX DELTA 2010 exercise was held outside Klaipeda, Lithuania. Seven oil-pollution-combating ships from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden took part in the exercise. The European Union was represented by one response vessel chartered by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The aim of the exercise, which is one of the largest world wide, was to test the HELCOM response system and the cooperation between response units of the Baltic Sea countries in case of major oil spill accidents. BALEX DELTA 2011 will be organized by Denmark on 30-31 August 2011 and will involve search and rescue, oil recovery, oiled wildlife response and emergency towing. BALEX DELTA 2012 wil be organized by Finland.HELCOM also annually organizes Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operation (CEPCO) flights. On 28-29 September 2010 a CEPCO North aerial surveillance flight took place over the north eastern parts of the Baltic Sea where no illegal discharge of oil were detected. Super CEPCO aerial surveillance operation will be arranged by Finland in 2011.The 13th meeting of the RESPONSE group (RESPONSE 13/2010) was held in St. Petersburg on 13-15 October 2010. Mr. Bernt Stedt, Sweden, was elected as Chairman to succeed Mr. Peter Søberg Poulsen, Denmark. Mr. Kalervo Jolma, Finland, and Mr. Marek Reszko, Poland, were re-elected as Vice-Chairmen for a two-year period starting from March 2011. The meeting discussed the maritime traffic situation, the work of the BRISK and BRISK-RU projects (see also under section 10.d.) and the detection, investigation and prosecution of offenders of anti-pollution regulations. Also, matters related to response operations as recent operations and places of refuge as well as shoreline and wildlife response were on the agenda. The meeting took note of the national reports on emergency and response planning as well as of realised and upcoming exercises.The establishment of an Expert Working Group on Shoreline Response which will deal with the implementation of the BSAP and which will be co-led by Poland and Germany was proposed by RESPONSE 13/2010 and approved by the 34th meeting of Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010). HOD 34/2010 has also approved the Working Programme for RESPONSE 2011-2013 and took note that Latvia has taken up the two-year chairmanship (2011-2012) of the Informal Working Group on Aerial Surveillance (IWGAS). The last IWGAS meeting took place on 16-17 March 2011 in Riga.The next meeting of the RESPONSE group (RESPONSE 14/2011) will take place on 13-15 September 2011.f. Joint HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on Maritime Spatial PlanningMaritime Spatial Planning (MSP) is an instrument to monitor, coordinate and align the distribution of human activities in the Sea and in the coastal areas. It is a process to promote rational and sustainable use of the sea and is a balance between all - economic, environmental, social and other – interests. Even if there has already been substantial work undertaken in the Baltic Sea with regard to maritime spatial planning, there are still great differences existing between the Baltic Sea region countries. Therefore, the Ministerial Meetings of HELCOM and VASAB decided to establish a joint, co-chaired HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning (HELCOM-VASAB MSP WG). The aim of the Working Group is to ensure cooperation among the Baltic Sea Region countries for coherent regional Maritime Spatial Planning processes. By providing a platform to discuss the links between relevant international agreements, EU legal instruments and policies as well as Baltic Sea Region and national policies, the Joint Working Group makes sure that a regional, trans-boundary and cross-sectoral dialogue on Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Maritime Spatial Planning takes place. It assists the Baltic region in profiling itself as a global and European forerunner in maritime spatial planning.Therefore, the Working Group promotes the development of maritime spatial planning in the region and follows up its implementation as outlined in the VASAB Long Term Perspective as well as in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and other relevant HELCOM recommendations. For this, it organizes workshops and gathers information on maritime spatial planning. The Joint Working Group will also examine and make use of the outcomes of regional project activities relevant to MSP. The Group will gather information and data and prepares decision proposals on Maritime Spatial Planning for upcoming VASAB Ministerial Conferences and HELCOM Ministerial meetings. The mandate of the group is valid for three years, beginning from 20 October 2010.The first meeting of the Joint Working Group took place on 20-21 October 2010 in Helsinki. The Meeting agreed on its mandate and endorsed the Baltic Sea Broad-scale Maritime Spatial Planning Principles. These were adopted at the 34th meeting of Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010). In this way, HELCOM and VASAB have founded a basis for international cooperation on Maritime Spatial Planning and Integral Coastal Zone Management. It is a first step in achieving a common understanding of maritime spatial planning in the Baltic Sea region. The ten principles are:1. Sustainable management: Maritime Spatial Planning is a key tool for sustainable management by balancing between economic, environmental, social and other interests.2. The Ecosystem approach is an overarching principle for Maritime Spatial Planning and calls for a cross-sectoral and sustainable management of human activities.3. Long term perspective and objectives: Maritime Spatial Planning should have a long term perspective in relation to the goals it seeks to attain and to its environmental, social, economic and territorial effects.4. Precautionary Principle: Maritime Spatial Planning should be based on the Precautionary Principle.5. Participation and Transparency: All relevant authorities and stakeholders in the Baltic Sea Region should be involved in maritime spatial planning initiatives and public participation should be secured. Planning processes should be open and transparent and in accordance with international legislation.6. High quality data and information basis: Maritime Spatial Planning should be based on best available and up to date comprehensive information of high quality.7. Transnational coordination and consultation: Maritime spatial planning should be developed in a joint dialogue with coordination and consultation between the Baltic Sea states.8. Coherent terrestrial and maritime spatial planning: Spatial planning for land and for the sea should be tightly interlinked, consistent and supportive to each other.9. Planning adapted to characteristics and special conditions at different areas: Maritime spatial planning should acknowledge the characteristics and special conditions of the different sub-basins of the Baltic Sea and their catchments.10. Continuous planning: Maritime spatial planning should reflect the fact that planning is a continuous process that will need to adapt to changing conditions and new knowledge.On 20-21 January 2011 the second meeting of the Joint HELCOM-VASAB Maritime Spatial Planning Working Group was held in Riga. The Meeting focussed on the international legislative basis for MSP and the application of the ecosystem approach as an overarching principle for MSP. The Working Group decided to continue the discussion on these matters during upcoming meetings, with the aim to identify basic elements and to find a common understanding on these two issues. For this purpose, several countries offered to prepare background documents for the next meeting of the HELCOM-VASAB MSP WG. In addition, the Contracting Parties presented their national processes in Maritime Spatial Planning. Moreover, information on MSP developments within the EU were collected and experts heard on other relevant conventions with regard to MSP as well as with regard to the topic of an ecosystem approach of MSP. Further, the Working Group agreed on a Work Plan for 2010-2013 and a Working Programme for 2011-2012.The 32nd Meeting of the Helsinki Commission approved the Work Plan and the Woking Programme for the Joint HELCOM-VASAB Working Group. The meeting underlined the importance of application of MSP for the environmental protection as well as for the balance of economic interests in using the Baltic Sea.The next meeting of the Joint HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning will take place in Helsinki on 28-29 September 2011.g. HELCOM MUNI (Ad Hoc expert Group on dumped chemical munitions)After World War II a large amount of chemical munition has been dumped into the Baltic Sea. It’s thus one of those seas in the world where a possible impact from dumped chemical munition needs to be seriously observed. For this reason, the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting decided to establish an ad hoc HELCOM Expert Group to update and review the existing information on dumped chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea. The 33rd meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 33/2010) considered the proposals for arrangement of such an ad hoc Expert Group. The aim of HELCOM MUNI is to compile all kinds of additional information on dumping activities, to check whether the general conclusions of the „HELCOM CHEMU-report“ that has been elaborated and issued by the former Working Group on Dumped Chemical Munitions (HELCOM CHEMU) in March 1994 are still valid and whether all recommendations as set out in this report are implemented in a satisfactory way. The newly established HELCOM MUNI Group can develop additional recommendations and guidelines for affected persons, stakeholders or groups of society, based on existing national guidelines.HELCOM MUNI held its first meeting on 15 November 2010 in Neumünster, Germany. At the meeting, all participants took note and discussed the conclusions of the „HELCOM CHEMU-report“ from 1994. The meeting suggested that national archives and other historical information should be further investigated to get more useful information. The meeting discussed the issue of possible recovery of chemical munitions and agreed that it requires further investigation due to knowledge and physical techniques. The need has been identified for establishing a closer link between the work of HELCOM MUNI and the implementation process of the EUSBSR Flagship Project under the Priority Area 3 ”Assess the need to clean up chemical weapons”, in order to exchange the information. The meeting noted that conventional munitions may cause harm to the marine environment in the Baltic Sea and took note that both conventional and chemical munitions are being addressed by OSPAR. Further, the meeting decided to address the Heads of Delegation with the recommendation to include conventional munitions in the scope of work of HELCOM MUNI and made the suggestion to contact relevant military authorities to avoid misunderstandings regarding competence and overlap of activities and for sharing the available information. The dumping site in Skagerrak as well as information about white phosphorus (including incidents) contained in smoke/burning munitions should be included in the scope of the work as well.The 34th meeting of HELCOM HOD (HOD 34/2010) took note of the outcome of the first meeting of HELCOM MUNI and expressed its concerns regarding the inclusion of conventional munitions into the scope of the work of MUNI at this stage.The second meeting of the expert group took place in Sopot on 12-13 April 2011. The meeting welcomed the preparation of the national reports and re-invited the Russian Federation to submit their relevant national report on updated information on dumping of chemical munitions. The meeting also took note of the information by Finland and the ChemSea Project that is aiming to elaborate inter alia precise maps on the location of dumping sites and guidelines for procedures for fished munitions. Even if the conclusions and recommendation of the 1994-95 HELCOM CHEMU reports are still valid, the meeting drafted a preliminary set of additional recommendations. Based on the identified gaps in fulfilment of recommendations, these additional recommendations could be included in the updated HELCOM Report. Denmark conducted a study reservation with regard to the recommendation concerning monitoring and needed research.The clarification which was made by Denmark to HOD 35/2011 came to the conclusion that Denmark cannot support the use of the term monitoring as it does not see the need for regular monitoring of dumped chemical munitions.The 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) took note of the clarification by Denmark concerning the study reservation on the draft recommendations and requested HELCOM MUNI 3/2011 to take into account the Danish proposals when compiling an updated report on dumped chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea. Russia stressed that its national report will be submitted before 1 August 2011.The meeting stressed the importance of the participation of all Contracting Parties during the meetings of the HELCOM MUNI Expert Group.HELCOM MUNI 3/2011 will probably take place in November 2011.h. MORS (Monitoring of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea)The Moscow Ministerial Meeting in 2010 decided that continuing monitoring radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea is of vital importance.Therefore, HELCOM MONAS’ proposal to establish a HELCOM MONAS Expert Group on Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (HELCOM MORS EG) was approved by the 34th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010) in December 2010. The new Group will base its work on the expertise and knowledge of the HELCOM MORS Group (since 1986) and will take over the responsibilities from the HELCOM MORS-PRO Project 2008-2011. The overall objective of MORS EG is to implement the Helsinki Convention on matters related to monitoring and assessment of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea. The work is based on relevant HELCOM Recommendations and supports HELCOM MONAS to which the group provides annual reporting. More specifically MORS EG’ s objectives are to coordinate basic monitoring programmes on radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea carried out by the Contracting Parties in accordance with relevant HELCOM Recommendations and the valid guidelines. Also the compilation of annual data on discharges of radioactivity from civil nuclear facilities to the Baltic Sea falls under the responsibility of MORS EG. It aims also to annually update HELCOM Indicator Fact Sheets on radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea and to keep the guidelines on the monitoring of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea updated as well as to coordinate and organise comparative exercises on seawater, sediments and biota to assure high quality of the monitoring data. It keeps under observation the development of trends of export of radio nuclides from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and it produces periodic assessments on radioactivity in the Baltic Sea.The first meeting of the Expert Group on Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea (MORS EG 1/2011) took place from the 24-26 May 2011 in Roskilde, Denmark. On the agenda were scientific reports and information by the Contracting Parties and the IAEA. The meeting also focussed on databases and ongoing monitoring programmes as well as indicator reports and assessments. Additionally, the future work of the group was discussed.The second meeting of the Expert Group (MORS EG 2/2012) will take place on 22-25 May 2012 in Vilnius.6. Forumsa. Agri - HELCOM Agricultural/Environmental ForumDespite a variety of measures that have already been implemented one of the largest sources of input of nitrogen and phosphorus into the Baltic Sea is agriculture. To prevent pollution from agriculture, HELCOM has set up general requirements in part 2 of Annex III of the Helsinki Convention (1992). There are also other existing relevant legal frameworks such as the EU Nitrate Directive, the IPPC Directive and the Common Agricultural Policy. The Moscow Ministerial Meeting decided in 2010 to continue to identify agricultural areas that are critical for the nutrient pollution in the Baltic Sea. Also, the need to make risk assessments of nutrient leaching from large animal farms was accepted and the necessity of action in this area was underlined.Against this background, the Moscow Ministerial Meeting 2010 decided to establish the Agricultural/Environmental forum which falls under the responsibility of the HELCOM LAND group. The objective of the forum is to improve cooperation and communication between environmental and agricultural administrations as well as other relevant stakeholders.Therefore, the forum is a platform for discussion where all stakeholders can meet, discuss and jointly take forward actions based on gathered information, and to assess the progress made as well as outstanding difficulties in reaching targets of the BSAP. The forum aims also to facilitate the coordination of actions implemented within the framework of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region with regard to the aims of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. The forum will also address the issue of reviewing the status of existing Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme (JCP) agricultural hot spots as well as designation of new point-source agricultural hot spots.The first meeting of the forum took place on 18 November 2010 in Helsinki, back-to-back with the joint workshop under Priority Area 9 of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region that was held in Helsinki on the same day. The meeting elected its chairperson and discussed the Terms of Reference as well as the scope of work of the forum. It explained that the forum should provide an added value to the Contracting Parties and that cooperation with all relevant stakeholders is important for the work of the forum. This includes not only authorities, but also farmer organizations and NGOs. To avoid duplication and overlapping, the meeting decided that the forum should be coordinated with other similar activities, such as the activities in Priority Areas 9 (“to reinforce sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries”) and 1 (“to reduce nutrient inputs to the sea to acceptable levels”) under the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.The second meeting of the Agricultural/Environmental forum took place back to back with the HELCOM LAND meeting on 16-17 May 2011 in Dessau, Germany. The main focus of the meeting was the implementation of agriculture-related actions in the BSAP. In this regard, the forum discussed the application of harmonized methods for assessment of point-source and diffuse pollution load from agriculture. Also the exchange of national experiences concerning best practices and case studies in agriculture as well as national experiences with implementation of amended part II Annex III of the Helsinki Convention (1992) were on the agenda of the forum. The 34th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010) and 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) stressed the importance of a broader involvement of all relevant stakeholders in order for the work of the forum to be successful. The third meeting of the Agricultural/Environmental Forum will take place on 7-8 November 2011 in Helsinki and the fourth meeting is scheduled for May 2012 in Poland.b. Fish - HELCOM Fisheries /Environmental ForumThe fifth meeting of the Fisheries/Environmental Forum for implementation fish related items of the Baltic Sea Action Plan took place back-to-back with the third meeting of Priority Area 9 (“to reinforce sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries”) of the EU Strategy of the Baltic Sea Region on 18 November 2010 in Helsinki. The discussion focused on the cooperation in different fields between ICES and HELCOM, especially the HELCOM/ICES workshops on flatfish and eel. The cooperation intends to avoid duplication of work. The meeting decided that a road map for the cooperation should be elaborated and submitted for consideration to the 34th Heads of Delegation meeting (HOD 34/2010). (For further information about the cooperation between HELCOM and ICES see section 11.a. of this report). The Forum also took note of the information about the CORESET Project for development of indicators and targets for monitoring the implementation of the BSAP. Also, the SALAR project on the state of salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) populations in rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea was discussed. Another main topic of the Forum was the fish- and fisheries-related measures of the BSAP especially fisheries-related actions in the National Implementation Plans. Good examples of fish and fisheries related measures in already submitted NIPs on the biodiversity segment of the BSAP were underlined. In this context, the forum discussed long-term management plans in the Baltic Sea as well as efforts to retain viable sealife populations and the conservation of salmon and sea trout in Baltic rivers. The forum also dealt with ongoing fish and fisheries related activities under Priority Areas 2 and 9 of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EU SBSR) and the regional implementation of the EU MSFD.The 34th meeting of the Head of Delegations (HOD 34/2010) stressed that the activities of the Forum provide a good basis for the implementation of fisheries-related matters under the BSAP. Nevertheless, a close cooperation of the forum with other relevant institutions and frameworks is needed for the success of the forum. As a good example, the meeting pointed out the cooperation between ICES and HELCOM through the forum.The Sixth Meeting of Baltic Fisheries/Environmental Forum was held in Stockholm on 13 June 2011. The topic under discussion was again the cooperation with ICES and other actors, especially joint activities on eel. Also, the progress of the implementation of the BSAP with regard to fishery related issues and the regional implementation of the EU MSFD were on the agenda. The Forum discussed also the issue of managing fisheries in Baltic Marine Protected Areas and its related project BALTFIMPA. With regard to the HELCOM work related to conservation of salmon and sea trout, the forum discussed a long-term management plan of Salmon in the Baltic Sea. The discussed draft of HELCOM Recommendation on conservation of Baltic salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) populations by the restoration of their river habitats and management of river fisheries was adopted by the 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011).The 32nd Meeting of the Helsinki Commission welcomed the accomplished and on-going actions of the forum and stressed that a participation of environmental and fishery actors are needed for its success.7. Projectsa. COHIBA (Control of hazardous Substances in the Baltic Sea Regions)The role of the Control of Hazardous Substances in the Baltic Sea Regions (COHIBA) project in the broader context is a key supportive role to implementing the hazardous substances segment of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. The project is tasked with collecting the initial data sets to determine the current levels of toxicity, their source on a country-to-country basis, and additionally to formulate policy recommendations based on the findings to be implemented on a cross-national basis. The project began in 2009 and is to be completed in 2012.The project is carried out under the co-funding approved in the 2007-2013 EU’s Baltic Sea Region Programme. The national case studies are coordinated by the Finnish Environmental Institute (SYKE) and comprise 22 partners from all EU member countries around the Baltic Sea.COHIBA intends to identify the most important sources and release patterns of 11 selected hazardous substances, identified as being of specific concern to the Baltic Sea. These data sets are needed for the further development of policy recommendation. The aim of the program is to define based on the toxicity studies conducted, what limits should be implemented on effluents discharged. COHIBA intend to provide the raw data necessary to develop recommendations adopted by HELCOM for cost effective management options to reduce the discharges, emissions and losses of the selected hazardous substances. It also provides input to the development of national implementation programmes, serving also the requirements under the EU Water Framework Directive and also provides input to the HELCOM integrated assessments on hazardous substances as a basis for decision making.The COHIBA Project has screened municipal and industrial effluents, landfill leachates and storm water in eight countries around the Baltic Sea. The project performed over 1,000 biological tests as well as some 10,000 chemical analyses. The project is also assessing sources and pathways of the target substances. Therefore, project partners have conducted national substance flow analyses to describe the sources and pathways, and to estimate emissions to air, land and water in their own country. The project has compiled a list of measures to reduce emissions of the selected 11 hazardous substances. These measures involve technical solutions and regulatory measures. The next step will be to evaluate measures in terms of effectiveness and costs. A pragmatic approach was therefore developed.The preliminary results of the projects were submitted for approval to the 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission in March 2011. The project has detected traces of all eleven hazardous substances in treated wastewaters of the Baltic Sea catchment area, though none of these compounds is acutely toxic to aquatic organisms at the measured concentrations. But results from long-term tests indicate more severe effects. In some cases, treated effluents induced higher mortality rates among fertilised fish eggs. Also, nearly all of the effluents caused injurious effects on the metabolism of fish liver cells, by interfering with their capability to eliminate hazardous substances. However, it is not possible to directly blame these 11 analysed compounds for the harmful effects observed. The project advises all Baltic Sea countries to increasingly apply whole effluent toxicity testing in wastewater control, and prepare draft recommendations to be submitted to HELCOM.So the 32nd meeting invited the Contracting Parties to consider the results of the project while implementing the hazardous substances segment of the BSAP. HELCOM LAND (16/2011) discussed, as tasked by HELCOM 32/2011, the outcome of the preliminary findings at the workshop which was arranged prior to the 16th LAND meeting in May 2011.b. BALTHAZAR (Baltic Hazardous and Agricultural Releases Reduction)The BALTHAZAR project focuses on reducing agricultural nutrient loading and the risk of hazardous waste in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad Oblasts. The aim of the project is to tackle pollution from large farms and hazardous waste collection sites and management processes.Since February 2009 the first phase of BALTHAZAR has been running and is financed with 2, 5 million € by the EU. The project was managed by a Project Implementation Unit established in the HELCOM Secretariat in close cooperation with the Russian Partner, St. Petersburg’s NGO “Ecology and Business”.The activities have contributed to the development of Russian national programmes for eutrophication and hazardous substances segments of the BSAP. In the first phase several Russian and EU experts were employed to collect information on the two main elements of the project: the hazardous waste component and the agricultural component. Consultants were contracted to carry out the risk assessment and to develop pilot project proposals. The aim was to identify the principal agricultural and hazardous waste pollution sources and to implement restoring actions.With regard to the hazardous waste component the following tasks have been completed; an inventory and risk assessment of landfills and areas of hazardous waste management in City of St. Petersburg, Leningrad region and Kaliningrad region. Also, an analysis of the federal, regional and municipal legal regime in hazardous waste management and a prioritized list of 30 waste sites were accomplished.For the agricultural component, an inventory and risk assessment of industrial farms in Leningrad region and Kaliningrad region, an analysis of federal and regional legal regimes with respect to environmental considerations in large-scale agriculture as well as a prioritized list of 30 farms has been established. The outcome was also pilot project proposals for on-farm measures in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions.As a result, five pilot projects were developed for both regions. The Agriculture pilots were a manure management strategy in Slavsky District, Kaliningrad Region and a feasibility study and detailed plan for investment in techniques for conversion of chicken manure into fertilizer products on Poultry Farm Primorskaya, Leningrad Region which was completed in March 2010.For the hazardous waste segment, three pilot projects were developed: a contamination and feasibility study and development of a remediation plan for Ust-Tosno landfill outside St. Petersburg as well as an enhancement of treatment of mercury containing waste (fluorescent lamps) in Kaliningrad region. A project for storage and destruction of obsolete pesticides in Kaliningrad region is still under negotiation with the EC delegation in Moscow.During 2010 these projects started to be implemented and were finalised by end of May 2011.The first Phase of the BALTHAZAR project ended on 5 June 2011. The final seminars on the pilot projects were held in both regions, in Kaliningrad on 25-27 May 2011 and in St. Petersburg on 31 May 2011. The seminars evaluated the results achieved and considered the activities which could be carried out in Phase II.The BALTHAZAR project continues in a second phase until April 2012. Due to an additional funding of € 1 million from the European Parliament, the total budget of the project has risen from € 2.5 to 3.5 million.The emphasis in Phase II will be on further pilot projects and joint and complementary actions with other projects within the HELCOM framework, such as the Project on Control of hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea region (COHIBA) as well as capacity building in environmental monitoring. The second Phase aims to work on wide range of issues, ranging from hazardous substances to sampling and analysing 11 HELCOM target substances in selected WWTPs as well as river and coastal waters and sediments in order to complement the studies of concentrations in waste site leachates performed in Phase I. The aim is also to perform some toxicity screening and investigations in order to contribute with similar information collected in other Baltic Sea countries during COHIBA.The activities will also contribute to the reporting for HELCOM Pollution load Compilations from Russia. These activities are expected to start in late June 2011.The 33rd meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 33/2010) considered the progress on EU-BALTHAZAR project and the 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) supported the importance of specific activities which are planned in the second phase of the project. HOD 35/2011 emphasized to the project steering group to consider the importance of utilizing the results of phase I when deciding on activities for phase II as well as the importance of enhancing the production of environmental data for assessments. It is important to have available information to gain complete picture of the whole Baltic Sea as a complement of the activities of the COHIBA-project.HOD 33/2010 approved, after having supplemented the proposal, to establish a new EU joint cooperation project to implement the BSAP and to build corresponding capacity in Russia. The more detailed draft project description has now been submitted to the EC Delegation in Moscow for consideration. The contract is expected to be signed during this year. HOD 33/2010 stressed the need to fully utilize the results of BALTHAZAR phases I and II in the new joint project as a bridge between the two activities. Therefore, it is expected that the project activities will fully start after finalization of BALTHAZAR, earliest in April 2012.The project is planned for a two-year period and will go beyond the existing cooperation topics within BALHAZAR in addressing three of the four priority areas of the HELCOM BSAP: eutrophication, hazardous substances, biodiversity and nature protection, as well as monitoring and environmental awareness raising activities as support to the above mentioned sections. The project will use the results of the BALTHAZAR project and will take into account other ongoing activities and projects in Northwest Russia, including the NIB/NEFCO Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund and the NDEP and outcomes of other bilateral projects. The activities also link the EU Baltic Sea Strategy and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive by providing input from Russia to complete the picture for the whole Baltic Sea area. A Project Steering Group will be formed to guide and steer the implementation of the project.The overall objective of the project will be the promotion of Baltic Sea protection from pollution of hazardous substances and nutrients, and to promote protection of biodiversity. The specific aim is to further strengthen the assessment and identification of potential sources of hazardous substances and nutrient loading, the assessment of environmental risks, the development of measures to be taken to reduce the Baltic Sea pollution, and to enhance protection of biodiversity as well as the development of necessary management system. The project will continue providing assistance to Russian authorities in order to improve the management and to enhance dialogue between environmental and other sectors. The outcome of this European Parliament initiated project will be used in testing and evaluating the suitability of the present cooperation instruments in the field of Baltic Sea protection as well as in developing future programmes and projects.c. PURE (Project on Urban reduction of eutrophication)Municipalities play a key role in improving the state of the sea and the possibilities of cutting down nutrient loading. So the main aim of the Project on urban reduction of eutrophication (PURE) is to prepare and implement concrete, voluntary investments in municipalities to reduce the phosphorus load to the Baltic Sea by 300-500 tonnes. PURE was implemented in 2010 and will go on until 2012 under the HELCOM LAND group.It is one of the flagship projects of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and is partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the Baltic Sea Region Programme and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument of the European Union.PURE supports selected wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), by transnational cooperation, to reach a phosphorous content of 0.5 mg/l in treated municipal wastewaters as stipulated in HELCOM Recommendation 28E/5. PURE maps existing good practices and develops solutions for sustainable and effective sludge handling and phosphorus recycling because the amount of sludge slightly increases due to advanced phosphorus removal. In its initial phase, the project concentrated on technical audit studies and phosphorus removal. The Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) Environment Commission (Lead partner), the John Nurminen Foundation and HELCOM are implementing the project together with nine city partners and their municipal WWTPs: Rīga Water; Jūrmala Water (Latvia); Brest Vodokanal (Belarus); Szczecin water company (Poland); Kohtla-Järve water company (Estonia); Lübeck Sewage Management (Germany); and cities of Gdańsk (Poland) and Mariehamn (Finland).During 2010, detailed investment plans for Brest and Jūrmala and audit reports for Gdańsk, Kohtla-Järve and Szczecin has been established. Additionally, a PURE pilot investment at Rīga Daugavgriva WWTP was implemented. This investment will reduce the phosphorus load to the Gulf of Riga by about 100 tonnes annually, one third of Latvia’s nationwide nutrient reduction target determined in the BSAP.Further PURE has created a new user-friendly database for municipal water utilities for monitoring local level performance and technology used in the Baltic Sea region, and encouraging benchmarking and improvements. During 2010, preparations and the building of a trial version of the database for PURE municipal partner organisations were completed. The database will also support updating official national data on municipal wastewater treatment in the HELCOM Pollution Load Compilation database, and review the country-wise nutrient reduction targets of the BSAP. In cooperation with HELCOM, PURE is developing a concept of a ‘green list’ of water utilities that implement the best practices in wastewater treatment as an incentive to environmentally sound local actors.On 6-8 September 2011 the PURE WP 5 workshop on sludge handling will take place in Lübeck, Germany.d. BRISK/BRISK-RU (Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea)As the Baltic Sea is one of the most heavily trafficked seas in the world, the number of ship accidents increases. Each year there are around 120-140 shipping accidents and the number of such accidents has risen since 2006.The aim of the Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea (BRISK) project is to enhance the preparedness of the Baltic Sea countries to respond to major spills of oil and hazardous substances caused by shipping activities. The project runs for three years (2009-2012). As a flagship project of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, it is co-financed by the EU within the Baltic Sea Programme 2007-2013. BRISK-RU ensures the participation of the Russian Federation in the joint implementation of the BSAP and is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Both projects have the same partners and are conducted within the framework of the HELCOM RESPONSE group to implement the national commitments under the BSAP.The project covers all transnational maritime areas in the Baltic Sea which are divided into six sub-regions. This subregional approach is the most cost-efficient as countries can share their resources to create a common pool of response vessels and equipment. As a first step, the project has provided a first risk assessment of pollution caused by shipping activities.The first results of the risk analysis of shipping accidents and pollution were presented at the 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011). The outcome has shown that the risk of accidents is not equivalent with the risk of spills as only a small percentage of all accidents result in spills and the risk of spill varies greatly depending on the ship size and ship type. The risk of spills at sea originates essentially from ship accidents and deliberate and inadvertent actions (illegal spills). Ship-to-ship collisions and groundings are by far the most frequent type of accidents in the open sea. The expected number of groundings is ten times higher than the number of ship-to-ship collisions, though a collision is 100 times more dangerous in terms of spill risk than grounding.The next step within the project is to check if the existing response capacities are sufficient to manage oil and hazardous substances spills. The project identifies gaps in the resources needed to effectively tackle major spills of oil and hazardous substances. It plans joint investments to improve response capacities. Moreover, it helps in developing transnational agreements for joint response operations. By doing this, the project implements the provisions of the BSAP concerning step-wise actions to fulfil the requirements of HELCOM Recommendation 28E/12 on strengthening of sub-regional co-operation in the response field.Six project meetings have taken place. The last meeting on 11-12 April 2011 focused inter alia on the risk analysis, the status and development of the sub-regional response agreements and the extension of the project.HOD 35/2011 took note of the progress within the BRISK and BRISK-RU projects and highlighted the relevance of the projects’ results for the further implementation of the BSAP. The full results of the risk assessment as well as sub-regional investment plans for enhancing response capabilities in the Baltic Sea are planned to be submitted to HELCOM HOD 36/2011 in December 2011 and will be presented at the final conference on 8 December 2011 in Helsinki. Therefore, HOD 35/2011 asks the project to prepare a clear description of the risk assessment model in advance of the projects’ final conference.The risk assessment has also been presented at the international seminar “Risks of pollution by shipping - How to improve preparedness to oil spills”, organized on 18 May 2011, in Sopot, Poland, as a side event of the 2011 European Maritime Day.e. TARGREV and CORESET projectsThe Review of the ecological targets for eutrophication of the BSAP project (TARGREV) is a scientific research project to review the environmental targets for eutrophication. The TARGREV project proposal was discussed during the 31st meeting of Heads of Delegation (HOD 31/2010) in April 2010 and started its activities in June 2010. The project examines large data sets and evaluates response of water transparency, algal biomass and nutrient concentration. Those HELCOM Contracting Parties that are also EU member states are able to make use of the targets in the implementation of the MSFD in the Baltic Sea.The project shall complete the first phase of the Roadmap for the revision of the environmental targets, maximum allowable nutrient inputs and country-specific nutrient reduction targets of the Baltic Sea Action Plan.The project is carried out by the Swedish and Danish Baltic Nest Institutes, SYKE, DHI and IOW. The HELCOM Contracting Parties are involved through the Joint Advisory Board of the HELCOM CORESET and TARGREV projects.The kick-off meeting of TARGREV was held on 10 June 2010 in Copenhagen. The main focus of the meeting was the need to ensure good coordination and cooperation between the HELCOM CORESET (Development of HELCOM core set indicators) and HELCOM TARGREV projects as both projects have largely similar aims. Therefore, the meeting recommended establishing the Joint Advisory Board. After discussion about the deadline for the final report, the meeting agreed on October 2011 as the date for the final reporting of the project which was approved by the 33rd Meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 33/2010) in August 2010. A workshop was held on 3 March 2011 to see the progress and to make further plans for finalising the outcome of the project by end of October 2011.On 23 May 2011 a combined status and working group meeting of HELCOM TARGREV was held in Copenhagen. The outcomes of the meeting were detailed work plans, following up on the report contributions from all partners. The meeting agreed that contributions to the final report should be delivered by 21 June 2011 and the preliminary draft report will be submitted to the third meeting of the Joint Advisory Board on 28-29 June 2011. (At the time of the reporting, further details with regard to this meeting were not available).The projects deadline is end of October 2011 by which the eutrophication targets will be reviewed and new targets proposed if necessary. The final report will be submitted for approval to 36th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 36/2011) in December 2011.The HELCOM CORESET project (Development of HELCOM core set indicators) establishes a set of candidate indicators for hazardous substances and biodiversity by autumn 2011 which will be further developed into a set of core indicators after that date. The work on the indicators was started by making a work plan, including gap analysis between the HELCOM indicators and EU MSFD’s descriptors for Good Environmental Status (GES) and a plan for harmonizing them as soon as possible.A first expert workshop on Hazardous Substances Indicators has been held on 20-21 October 2010 in Hamburg, the second meeting took place on 2-3 February 2011 in Helsinki and a third session was held on 31 May-1 June 2011 in Klaipeda. A first expert meeting on biodiversity has been held on 3-4 November 2010 in Helsinki while a second meeting took place on 16-18 February 2011 in Gothenburg.The 34th Meeting of the Heads of Delegation in December 2010 (HOD 34/2010) welcomed the progress made in both expert groups. The meeting noted that the CORESET project should be, in addition to developing core set indicators for the status of the marine environment, responsible for developing core set pressure indicators that represent the intensity of anthropogenic activities.The CORESET/TARGREV Joint Advisory Board is the coordinating body for both projects. It advises and reviews the work of the CORESET and TARGREV projects and ensure that common Baltic Sea region-wide principles will be applied as far as possible. The Board functions under the HELCOM MONAS Group and reports regularly to the Group. MONAS evaluates the results and makes recommendations on appropriate application of the indicators for further submission to the HELCOM HODs. HELCOM MONAS have to ensure that the work of the TARGREV and CORESET projects is fully linked to the implementation of the EU MSFD and of producing indicators with targets that are in line with the needs of the implementation of the MSFD for those Contracting Parties that are members to the EU. The tasks of the Joint Advisory Board include inter alia the facilitation of regional cooperation and coordination on the national initial assessments of the EU.It functions also as an information exchange platform. Furthermore, the supervising of the updating of the HELCOM holistic integration of the indicators within the HELCOM CORESET project falls under the responsibility of the Joint Advisory Board.The first meeting of the Joint Advisory Board took place on 20-21 September 2010 in Stockholm. The Contracting Parties also being EU member states presented their progress in implementing the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The meeting welcomed that the outcomes of the HELCOM TARGREV project will contribute and strengthen the preliminary HELCOM core set indicators for eutrophication and stressed the importance of implementing coherent approaches in the project and for the eutrophication indicators.The second meeting of the Joint Advisory Board was held on 22-23 March 2011 in Berlin.The 32nd Meeting of the Helsinki Commission in March 2011 emphasized the importance of the work of the CORESET and TARGREV projects in developing approaches and providing the necessary science-based technical basis and Baltic-wide coordination needed for the follow-up of the implementation of the BSAP and, for the EU members, also the implementation of the MSFD and regionally coordinated application of the descriptors of good environmental status and the respective criteria.f. PLC-5 (Pollution Load Compilation)A summary of the Fifth Baltic Sea Pollution Load Compilation Project (PLC-5) has already been presented at the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting on 20 May 2010.The Final Report of the PLC-5 was submitted for final approval to the 35th Meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) in June 2011 and will be published in autumn 2011. The report includes data on inputs of nutrients and heavy metals to the Baltic Sea from the HELCOM countries in 2000-2008. The Pollution Load Compilation can be seen as a scientific basis for the assessment of the effectiveness of joint actions to reduce pollution of the Baltic Sea. As the 34th Meeting of Heads of Delegation in December 2010 (HOD 34/2010) stressed, the Fifth Pollution Load Compilation project is a pilot project of HELCOM and completing the assessment is of great importance for the future work of HELCOM.Upon the recommendation of MONAS 13/2010, the 34th meeting of Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010) decided that the LOAD expert group will replace the role of the former PLC Group to follow-up the national progress towards reaching BSAP nutrient reduction targets including tasks related to atmospheric loads but also including other tasks. After completion of the PLC-5 report, the LOAD group will continue to work on assessing nutrient loads.Accordingly, the 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) has endorsed that a report on nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea based on waterborne loads and airborne deposition will be prepared by HELCOM LOAD for the Ministerial Meeting in 2013. HOD 35/2011 supported the recommendation by MONAS 14/2011 to modernize and make open available the PLC database. HOD 35/2011 also took note that HELCOM LOAD will work on the review of the nutrient reduction targets and updating of the nutrient reduction allocation scheme and that the LOAD Group will prepare an executive summary report for PLC-5. The report will be submitted to MONAS 15/2011 in October 2011 for consideration.The first meeting of the LOAD group took place in March 2011 and the second meeting will be held on 1-2 September 2011 in Helsinki.g. SALAR (Project on the state of salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) populations in rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea)The Project on the state of salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) populations in rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea (HELCOM SALAR) was initiated in January 2010 and ended in March 2011.The aim of the project was to make an inventory and classification of the historical and existing Baltic rivers with salmon and/or sea trout populations. The purpose was also to suggest measures for restoration and to plan active conservation for selected wild salmon populations in river. The project forms a basis for implementing some of the fisheries actions in the BSAP. The BSAP sets the target to reach a salmon smolt production of at least 80% of the potential production or for weaker populations 50% of the potential production.The project was funded by a co-financing agreement between the European Commission (DG MARE) and HELCOM. A team of national experts from the Member States and the HELCOM project staff worked on the project. The main deliveries of the SALAR project are a General Report and a detailed Background Report for eight member states to be published in the HELCOM Baltic Sea Environmental Proceedings series in 2011.The General Report presents an overview, inventory and classification of salmon and sea trout populations in rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea. It recommends measures for the restoration of river habitats and waters, the opening of passages and fisheries management measures in rivers to improve the state of salmon and sea trout populations. Furthermore, a prioritisation of the Baltic salmon and sea trout populations in need of urgent actions for their recovery is included.The Background Reports contain river-by-river descriptions of salmon and sea trout populations and habitats in eight Member States. These reports are principally descriptive and have a member state focus.The Report has been discussed at a meeting of the nominated experts on 5-6 October 2010, presented and discussed at the HELCOM Fisheries/Environmental Forum on 17 November 2010, and sent for review to members of the HELCOM HABITAT group. Then the Report was submitted for Peer Review by two external experts engaged by ICES. In February 2011 both the Draft Recommendation and the General Report were submitted for a last review by HELCOM HODs, the members of the HELCOM Fisheries/Environmental Forum, nominated experts of the project as well as contact addresses of HELCOM HABITAT.The Report was approved by the 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission taking into account the comments made by the Contracting Parties. The meeting thanked the project group and the secretariat for their dedicated work on the project. As the final report and its recommendations were reviewed by ICES experts and the work of the project was carried out in close cooperation with respective Working groups of ICES, the meeting thanked ICES for the efficient cooperation. The meeting supported in general the proposed recommendations taking into account the comments by the Contracting Parties on the need to provide the reference to EU competence in management of fisheries resources in the Baltic Sea and the need to elaborate a reporting format. HELCOM HABITAT 13/2011 was tasked to review the final draft of the recommendation. As it was agreed on the need to elaborate restoration plans for river waters and habitats as well as river fisheries management, the meeting asked the secretariat to prepare a second phase project plan and to apply for its funding. The implementation of the SALAR recommendations should be closely linked with the Baltic Salmon Management Plan to be adopted by the EU.Reviewing the recommendation on conservation of Baltic salmon and sea trout, HELCOM HABITAT 13/2011 was of the opinion that none of the strength of the superseding Recommendation 19/2 should be lost with the adoption of the new recommendation.The 35th Meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) adopted the Recommendation on the conservation of Baltic salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) under condition that it supplements the existing HELCOM Recommendation 19/2 and that the Daugava River is deleted from Annex 1. It remarks that the approved version was submitted to HELCOM 32/2011, supplemented with the text on the exclusive competence of EU fisheries management measures in the Baltic Sea and reporting format to be submitted tri-annually, starting from 2012.h. Red ListThe HELCOM Red List Project was initiated in 2009 to produce a comprehensive Red List of Baltic Sea species and to update the Red Lists of Baltic Sea biotopes and biotope complexes for the HELCOM area by 2013. The assessments are carried out by some 50 experts. The Red Lists are prepared according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria for the following species groups: macrophytes, benthic invertebrates, water birds, fish and lamprey species and marine mammals.The Baltic Sea Action Plan requires the complete biotope classification system for the Baltic Sea biotopes to be completed by 2011. The HELCOM RED LIST project is developing the threat assessments which should be finalised by 2013.In 2010, the Red List project joined forces with another project, the European Commission-funded EUSeaMap project (2009-2010). The EUSeaMap project produced broad-scale habitat maps for the Celtic, North, Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. The outcomes of the project will include full conservation status assessments for species and biotopes, as well as descriptions of ecological linkages, habitats, population changes and threats for all threatened and near threatened species.With the current expert resources allocated by the Contracting Parties to the project, the expert teams have been able to start their work but the progress of the assessment has been slower than expected. Nominations are still missing and many of the nominated experts have not been guaranteed work time to do much more than participate in the meetings.That is why the 33rd meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 33/2011) took note of the need to allocate working time for the national experts and urged the contracting states to complete the missing nominations of experts for the project. The progress made and the remaining challenges of the Red List project were also discussed during the meeting.Also, the 34th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2011) urged the Contracting Parties to allocate more expert working time, especially regarding the biotope work, because the starting point for the assessments in the Biotope Team is different and far more challenging compared to the species assessment work. The meeting noted that Danish waters may need to be left out of the assessment for those parts of the List assessment where no Danish expertise is available. It welcomed that Sweden allocates additional experts.The project manager explained to the 35th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 35/2011) that despite the delays, it is still possible to produce the Red list by 2013 if the needed expert resources to the project will be secured by the Contracting Parties, especially by Denmark.The meeting recalled the need for a complete classification of the Baltic Sea habitats/biotopes as agreed in the BSAP. The meeting discussed the project idea for completing a European Nature Information System (EUNIS) compatible biotope classification for the Baltic Sea. It emphasised that the new project should not affect the HELCOM budget and that Danish experts most likely will not participate in it. Denmark stressed that in its point of view such a project is not necessary. The meeting underlined that such a project should be linked to the RED LIST project and should build on and continue the work carried out on classification by the biotope experts of HELCOM RED LIST. Sweden will contribute 500,000 SEK to the EUNIS classification activity and Finland will contribute expert resources to the project. The secretariat was tasked to clarify the remaining needs for funding from external sources. The meeting decided that the project should start in autumn 2011 on the basis of the already confirmed funding.The following meetings regarding the RED List project are planned: RED LIST BI (benthic invertebrates) 3/2011 on 26-27 October 2011 in Rostock, Germany; RED LIST BIOTOPES 4/2011 on 11-12 October 2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania; RED LIST FISHES 2/2011 in December 2011 on Vilm, Germany; RED LIST MACROPHYTES in October 2011, HELCOM RED LIST Steering Group meeting on 13 October 2011 in Vilnius back-to-back with the RED LIST BIOTOPES 4/2011 meeting.8. Other Mattersa. Cooperation between HELCOM and ICESThe cooperation between ICES and HELCOM covered both contractual and institutional cooperation. Within the work programme of the HELCOM Baltic Fisheries and Environment Forum HELCOM and ICES have progressively gotten to cooperate and work together on various issues. The meeting of the HELCOM Baltic Fisheries and Environment Forum, on 17 November 2010, decided to develop roadmaps for further cooperation between ICES and HELCOM.The 34th meeting of the Heads of Delegation (HOD 34/2010) considered the proposal for the roadmap and expressed its willingness for enhanced cooperation between both as the demand for scientific support for the work of HELCOM increases. The meeting took note that also the recent ICES council meeting had expressed the wish for closer cooperation.The cooperation aims for the implementation of the good environmental status (GES) as postulated in the BSAP and the EU MSFD as well as on other activities related to the protection of the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem and its biological diversity. The wider cooperation should cover the objective to achieve good environmental status in the Baltic, in general in relation to biodiversity with the aim to deepen expert cooperation and especially for commercial fish. The cooperation should also cover the revision of the HELCOM monitoring programmes and specifically the contribution by ICES in relation to monitoring biodiversity as well as identification of needs and possible fisheries management measures in marine protected areas to achieve their conservation aims.On 25 February 2011, the two Presidents of HELCOM and ICES had a fruitful meeting to further explore means and ways of cooperation. It was suggested that the planned workshop under the Swedish HELCOM Presidency between HELCOM, OSPAR and ICES on the practical implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive would offer a very good platform to explore the issue further.The 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission approved the roadmap towards cooperation between HELCOM and ICES on the good environmental status (GES) as given in the BSAP and the EU MSFD as well as on other activities related to the protection of the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem and its biological diversity. ICES informed the meeting that it has established a steering group for the coordination of work related to the MSFD within ICES. The meeting invited ICES to assist HELCOM with regard to providing the scientific basis for the regional coordination of the MSFD by HELCOM.b. Green Baltic SpotsThe HELCOM Ministerial Meeting in 2010 agreed on the need to exchange information on best available treatment techniques and link this work to the ongoing initiatives, including presenting of best examples (“List of Green Baltic Spots”).The High-Level Segment of the 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission also discussed major focus areas to facilitate implementation of the HELCOM BSAP and suggested that promotion of good examples of cost-effective solutions, with use of various effective technologies for wastewater management could be one of such areas.The idea to develop a HELCOM List of Baltic Green Spots also came up as a response to the upcoming finalisation of the Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme (JCP, to be completed in 2012) that contains the List of Hot Spots, representing major polluters of the Baltic Sea. It was suggested that shifting from a “name-and-blame“ approach towards promotion of best examples would be of help for the national implementation of the HELCOM BSAP.The 16th meeting of HELCOM LAND (16/2011) discussed the List of Green Baltic Spots which were in general supported by the Contracting Parties. The parties felt that clearer and simplified criteria should be elaborated for establishment of the List. Based on the comments by the Contracting Parties, the meeting agreed that the municipal waste water treatment sector could be the most appropriate and a relatively simple area where such a List could be established. HELCOM LAND 16/2011 mandated the Secretariat to draft a proposal for the Criteria on establishing the List of Green Baltic Spots and to submit it for consideration and possible approval of the HELCOM HOD 35/2011. The Meeting also agreed that potential Green Spots should represent top-runners and examples for other similar activities within the countries.c. New online map serviceIn 2010, HELCOM launched a new online map and data service with many advanced and improved features. Its main objective is to make environmental information accessible both for interested users and the general public. The service aims to be easy to use, intuitive and attractive, with a similar look and feel as Google and Bing Maps, for example. The service allows users to access and visualise a wide range of data on activities and pollution loads affecting the Baltic marine environment, including information on monitoring activities and regional preparedness for accident response. Users can view, create and save/print their own maps, download datasets and create live links to the HELCOM GIS website via the new service.The development of the new HELCOM map and data service has been made possible by the work of the HELCOM project Development of the HELCOM Data and Geographic Information System, which was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers during 2009-2010.Sylvia Bretschneider Christina GestrinPresident of the Parliament of FinlandParliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Chairman of the BSPC9. AnnexCommuniqué of the high-level segment of the 32nd Meeting of the Helsinki CommissionProgress in the national implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan for the recovery of the Baltic Sea9 March 2011, HelsinkiThe HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) is a globally recognized recovery planThe development of the BSAP has been well received world-wide; this momentum is now transferred into the implementationThe actions in the Baltic Sea Action Plan adopted in 2007 have received world-wide recognition as a good example of an ecosystem-based management of the marine environment when it has been presented, e.g., in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP 10, the UN Framework Convention in Climate Change COP 15 and 16, and at the meetings within the Arctic region, Black Sea, Caribbean, the Sea of Japan and the US Chesapeake Bay. The plan has set an example of international management of an entire sea basin with a multinational catchment area in particular in relation to cooperation on the protection of the marine environment.As documented in the 2010 HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Declaration, the first implementation steps have been taken showing that it is possible to turn the negative trend and restore a severely degraded marine area to a sea where we can swim anywhere, profit of good sustainable fish catches and enjoy a beautiful scenery and unpolluted environment - which only a healthy Baltic Sea environment with diverse biological components functioning in balance can provide us.Outlook for implementationAll Baltic Sea countries have presented National Implementation Programmes and there are good actions in themAll countries have now prepared their National Implementation Programmes (NIP) for the BSAP in accordance with their national procedures and needs. The NIPs show several similarities between the countries on how they perceive and deal with challenges related to the marine environment. As an example, activities are being undertaken in many countries around the Baltic to reduce inputs of nutrients from diffuse sources, to build or upgrade wastewater treatment plants to further improve nutrient removal and sanitary standards. Similarly, a concerted action is being initiated to upgrade port reception facilities for sewage to eliminate nutrient input from passenger ships to the Baltic Sea. Some actions are being developed to enhance effective use of nutrient containing sewage sludge as well as manure from animal farms in modern biogas plants and for fertilizer use, thus reducing nutrient losses and saving valuable nutrient resources. Several countries have already, either in their legislation or by voluntary means, banned phosphorus containing laundry detergents for household use. To protect Baltic Sea biodiversity, the countries have been effective in designating more than 10% of the Baltic marine area as Marine Protected Area (MPA) (for more examples of accomplished activities see the background document).There are also some slow- and even no-progress areasWhile the NIPs list several accomplished and successful actions, less progress and fewer concerted initiatives have been presented to reduce nutrient input from diffuse sources, to control the spread of hazardous substances or to reduce the impacts from fisheries activities. In order to address these issues, adequate legislative and voluntary measures and enforcement of existing requirements need to be ensured.Following the fact that agriculture is the main source of nutrient inputs, HELCOM needs to guarantee efficient work within the HELCOM Baltic Agriculture and Environment Forum, established by the HELCOM Moscow Ministerial Meeting, to enhance the implementation of measures for reducing phosphorus and nitrogen losses from agriculture as listed in the BSAP and legislative frameworks.For conservation of biodiversity and to ensure sufficient knowledge-base for future management of the marine environment, scientific inventories, assessment and mapping activities need be continued. This is of utmost importance for a proper application of the ecosystem approach to management of human activities, in which maritime spatial planning is an import tool. Moreover, elaboration of management plans and measures for all Baltic Sea Protected Areas (BSPAs) is crucial for ensuring effective spatial protection by those BSPAs, including further designations of offshore BSPAs, ensuring ecological coherence of the BSPA’s network.Huge challenges are ahead but there is also available funding dedicated to the restoration of the Baltic SeaTo invest in the restoration of the health of the Baltic Sea is also an investment in the future. Based on the NIPs, a suggested way forward is to further develop project ideas covering all segments of the BSAP and match it with the funding from the international funding community, in particular the BSAP Trust Fund managed by NEFCO and NIB. Much more focus must be directed towards the implementation and there is no doubt that countries need to make their own national budget allocations. In order to be successful in this process, the NIPs must be complemented with concrete measures to reach the BSAP targets, be given increased political support and be a priority by the international financiers. This will be the focus of the next phase of the NIP Project implementation which will be carried out in dialogue with countries, project owners and potential financing institutions.Building partnerships for cooperationBSAP contributes to global processesThere is a need for countries to cooperate and coordinate their work to achieve national environmental objectives and their commitments under international agreements. The on-going designation of the Baltic Sea area as a Special Area for sewage under the MARPOL Convention provides an example of how the Baltic Sea countries have influenced and enhanced international policy developments. Similarly, ratification of the IMO International Convention for Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments by the remaining eight Baltic Sea countries, following the example of Sweden, would bring the Convention very close to entering into force. Likewise, safety of navigation has considerably increased in the Baltic Sea following the willingness of the Baltic Coastal States, based on IMO work, to undertake more efforts and establish a land-based monitoring system for ships, ensure coverage of the Baltic with Electronic Navigational Charts and the use of the safer Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) in the Baltic. This in turn has promoted the recent adoption within IMO of the mandatory use of ECDIS globally.The Baltic Sea countries ́ coordinated aerial surveillance has shown to be an effective preventive means to reduce the numbers of illegal oil spills. And the response and emergency cooperation in the Baltic ensures a swift and operational national as well as transnational response to accidental pollution from ships.Furthermore, the Baltic Sea Action Plan and the NIPs serve as an example of a regionally coordinated implementation of the UN Global Programme of Actions.BSAP implementation and national and EU processes interact positivelyThe Russian Federation has adopted and updated a number of strategic documents in the field of the protection of the marine environment to rehabilitate and recover the Baltic Sea ecosystem, such as the Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation till 2020 adopted by the President of the Russian Federation on 27 July 2001, the Water Strategy of the Russian Federation till 2020 adopted by the Government of the Russian Federation on 27 August 2009, and the Climate Doctrine of the Russian Federation adopted by the President of the Russian Federation on 17 December 2009.Notwithstanding the importance of the cooperation among all Baltic Sea States to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea Area, for those HELCOM countries which are also EU Member States the on-going legislative work under EU with a bearing on the marine environment is of particular importance. Due to its legal obligations and requirements of regional coordination, EU processes are highly prioritized in coastal EU Member States. The BSAP relates positively to the implementation of EU legislation, HELCOM being the coordinating platform for the regional implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in the region. The BSAP facilitates cooperation in the Region for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which requires the EU Member States to accomplish a range of measures to achieve good environmental status of marine waters by 2020. By consequently implementing the BSAP the Baltic Sea States are already undertaking important supportive actions directly relevant to this Directive which also support the efforts made to improve water quality under the Water Framework Directive and to protect marine habitats and species under the Birds- and Habitats-Directives.Having the BSAP objectives and approaches included as part of the environmental component of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region clearly shows the added value of the cutting edge work in HELCOM. Integration of environmental concerns in different EU regulations/policies and the alignment of sources of funding with the protection of the marine environment are crucial future challenges. Bearing in mind the particular importance of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) for the ecosystem health of the Baltic Sea and being aware that the CFP will be revised by 2013, HELCOM will observe this process and further contribute by feeding in the environmental objectives of the BSAP, as appropriate.Everyone must be involvedAwareness and willingness to contribute to the restoration of the health of the Baltic Sea is increasing at all levels. Today, the citizens of the Baltic Sea riparian states are concerned about the health of the sea and demand action. Sectorial cooperation organizations and environmental protection NGOs, as well as parliamentary and financing cooperation organizations have actively participated and contributed to the work on the BSAP.To focus the political attention on the implementation of the HELCOM BSAP, in Helsinki on 10 February 2010, Heads of States and Governments met with representatives of public-private partnerships, such as business leaders, companies, institutes, NGOs, several private foundations and persons in the Baltic Sea Action Summit. This shows that the private sector is equally willing to support the work for a healthier Baltic Sea together with the highest political level. The follow-up and reporting of the status of commitments issued at the Action Summit show that some progress has been made, although one year is a short time to demonstrate major achievements. The Summit as such offers a unique platform for all those actors who want to act side by side and to influence on the state of the Baltic Sea.All along the coastlines, there is nothing more encouraging than seeing concrete actions by local actors. Cutting edge projects, as well as daily hard work by farmers, local river basin groups, port and marina operators, municipalities, etc. are setting examples to follow. 5The good scientific knowledge-base we have in the Baltic is partly the reason for the general acceptance of the BSAP objectives. The continuous involvement of ICES is essential and also stimulates the exchange of data and information between the Baltic Sea States ́ scientists. The cooperation of HELCOM decision makers with the scientific community is of utmost importance. The Baltic region is furthermore in an advantageous position by having the BONUS Joint Baltic Sea Research Programme for Baltic Sea science, and numerous relevant projects, which also supports the implementation of the BSAP.BSAP is good for the economy and developmentThe implementation phase of the Baltic Sea Action Plan calls for the participation of all players (governments, international processes, civil society, local actors, and the private sector). Saving the Baltic Sea is not only for scientific and emotional purposes, but it is also of economic interest and of interest in balancing the benefits attainable from the Baltic among the members of the society. Environmental economists around the Baltic are working to estimate the potential threats to economic and social development and well-being of further degradation of the marine environment and the benefits that can be gained by protection measures. From the climate change orientated Stern report we know that it is cheaper to act now rather than wait. Similarly, the report on economics of ecosystems and biodiversity (TEEB report) shows how natural capital supports economies, societies and individual well-being but is at the same time undervalued, unaccounted and in need of immediate protection.Concerted action for the continued BSAP implementationHELCOM has generated the Action Plan with the ultimate goal of achieving a Baltic Sea in good environmental status by 2021. In addition to HELCOM’s work in the field of science and policy developments, HELCOM will serve as the forum for the exchange of experiences, identifying synergies, developing cooperation networks and facilitating dialogue with potential financing mechanisms. In this regard HELCOM Contracting States will also ensure that their activities are consistent with already accomplished or ongoing implementation processes under other legally binding requirements, such as EU legislation.To support the continued implementation process, we, the high level representatives will ensure a continuous and increased political support for the successful implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan, which will require a range of activities: from increased knowledge, awareness building, policy development, pilot studies to large scale investment projects.Depending on the country, some of the major focus areas are:• Upgrading of wastewater treatment plants in compliance with HELCOM Recommendation 28E/5 “Municipal wastewater treatment”;• Promoting wastewater treatment in scattered housing, following HELCOM Recommendation 28E/6 “On-site wastewater treatment of single family homes, small businesses and settlements up to 300 Person Equivalents (P.E.) “o establish good examples of cost-effective solutions, with use of various effective technologies for wastewater management;• Supporting implementation of effective measures to diminish impacts from agriculture especially in areas with high area-specific nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the sea which could comprise:o specific legal and voluntary measures supported through an established advice system at farm-by-farm basis, ensuring a more comprehensive approach, 6o establish the list of Agricultural Hot Spots represented by installations for intensive rearing of cattle, poultry and pigs not in compliance with part 2, Annex III of the Helsinki Convention; for those HELCOM Member States being also EU Member States realizing that implementation of respective EU legislation may not comply fully with Annex III,o further identify areas, sources or activities that are critical for nutrient inputs to the sea;• Recycling of nutrients, which could comprise:o integrated utilisation of sewage sludge and animal manure for biogas and fertiliser production,o increased utilisation of nutrient reclaiming in water ecosystems through e.g. wetlands, mussel culture and harvesting/usage of plants and fish,o application of nutrient-balanced fertilization in agriculture practices in the Baltic Sea Region to fulfil the provisions in Annex III of the Helsinki Convention Part II: Prevention of Pollution from Agriculture;• Developing further clean and safe shipping especially in view of the increasing volume of traffic in the Baltic Seao installing/upgrading port reception facilities for the delivery of sewage from passenger ships, necessary for the entry into force of Annex IV of MARPOL in ports on the HELCOM list of prioritized ports;• Addressing and reducing transboundary pollution by supporting measures in installations on the list of priority installations in the field of wastewater treatment and agriculture in Belarus contributing to transboundary pollution of the Baltic Sea and for future relevant actions in Ukraine;• Habitat restoration and measures to protect migratory fish species, and coastal fish populations including the development of appropriate plans and transboundary management, in cooperation with ICES in relevant caseso salmon and sea trout in prioritized Baltic salmonids rivers following the recommendations of the HELCOM SALAR project,o address studies/measures that improve Baltic fish species stock compositions;• Developing and implementing management plans for existing Baltic Sea Protected Areas (BSPAs) and designating off-shore BSPAs, to achieve an ecological coherent network of BSPAso identify needs and develop, in cooperation with ICES and to be implemented through the EU Common Fisheries Policy, for those HELCOM member States being also EU member States, fisheries management measures in BSPAs in the Baltic Sea, to ensure achieving their conservation objectives;• Developing and enhancing the use of the information in registers for chemical products or releases for an improved overview of quantities and flows of chemicals to the marine environmento develop national registers where lacking, including the legislative frameworks required;• Implementing rehabilitation measures in prioritized and potential risk landfills, including “old sins”;• Developing and promoting application of cost-effective means to measure pollution by hazardous substances from effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants, from storm waters and from landfill leachate;• Working towards focusing increasingly on hazardous substances in the environmental permits, in addition to other threats, and make use of the monitoring associated with environmental permits;• Strengthening the monitoring of hazardous substances and their effects in the Baltic Sea to guide policy making by providing trends of concentrations of hazardous substances and their impacts and indications of effectiveness of measures, and most importantly, alert for new substances of concern, following first findings in the marine environment.10. Table of contents1. Introduction 22. Cooperation between BSPC and HELCOM 43. Programme of the Swedish Chairmanship 54. Implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) 7a. National Implementation Plans (NIP’s), the NIP project and stakeholder meetings 7b. High level segment of the 32nd meeting of the Helsinki Commission 9c. Follow-up of the Baltic Sea Action Summit 165. Groups / Working Groups 17a. LAND (Land-based pollution group) 17b. MONAS (Monitoring and Assessment Group) 19c. HABITAT (Nature Protection and Biodiversity Group) 20d. MARITIME (Maritime group) including proposals to the IMO 22(1.) The Maritime Group 22(2) Proposals to the IMO 23(a.) Regulations for sewage discharge from passengers ships 23(b.) Application for designating the Baltic Sea as NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) 24e. RESPONSE (Response group) 27f. Joint HELCOM-VASAB Working Group on Maritime Spatial Planning 28g. HELCOM MUNI (Ad Hoc expert Group on dumped chemical munitions) 30h. MORS (Monitoring of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea) 326. Forums 33a. Agri - HELCOM Agricultural/Environmental Forum 33b. Fish - HELCOM Fisheries /Environmental Forum 347. Projects 36a. COHIBA (Control of hazardous Substances in the Baltic Sea Regions) 36b. BALTHAZAR (Baltic Hazardous and Agricultural Releases Reduction) 37c. PURE (Project on Urban reduction of eutrophication) 40d. BRISK/BRISK-RU (Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea) 41e. TARGREV and CORESET projects 42f. PLC-5 (Pollution Load Compilation) 45g. SALAR (Project on the state of salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) populations in rivers flowing to the Baltic Sea) 45h. Red List 478. Other Matters 49a. Cooperation between HELCOM and ICES 49b. Green Baltic Spots 50c. New online map service 519. Annex 5210. Table of contents 5311. GLOSSARY 5411. GLOSSARYAIS Automatic Identification SystemASCOBANS Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North SeaBALTHAZAR Baltic Hazardous and Agricultural Releases Reduction projectBALTFIMPA Managing fisheries in Baltic marine protected areasBRISK/BRISK-RU Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea projectBSAG Baltic Sea Action GroupBSAP Baltic Sea Action PlanBSAS Baltic Sea Action SummitBSPA Baltic Sea Protected AreasBSPC Baltic Sea Parliamentary ConferenceCEPCO Coordinated Extended Pollution Control OperationCOHIBA Control of hazardous Substances in the Baltic Sea region projectCORESET Development of HELCOM core set Indicators projectEMSA European Maritime Safety AgencyEU MSFD EU Marine Strategy Framework DirectiveEU SBSR EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea RegionEUNIS European Nature Information SystemGES Strategic Coordination Group or the Working Group on Good Environmental Status (EU)HABITAT Nature Protection and Biodiversity GroupHOD Heads of DelegationIAEA International Atomic Energy AgencyICES International Council for the Exploration of the SeaIFI International Financial InstitutionsIMO International Maritime OrganizationIOW Leibnitz Institut für Ostseeforschung WarnemündeIUCN International Union for Conservation of NatureIWGAS Informal Working Group on Aerial SurveillanceJCP Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action ProgrammeLAND Land-based pollution groupMARITIME Maritime groupMEPC Marine Environment Protection Committee of the IMOMONAS Monitoring and Assessment GroupMORS Monitoring of radioactive substances in the Baltic Sea projectMSP Maritime Spatial PlanningMUNI Ad Hoc expert Group on dumped chemical munitions projectNCM Nordic Council of MinistersNECA NOx Emission Control AreaNEFCO Nordic Environment Finance CorporationNIB Nordic Investment BankNIP National Implementation PlanOSPAR North East AtlanticPE Population equivalentPLC-5 Pollution Load Compilation projectPRF Port reception facilityPURE Project on Urban reduction of eutrophicationRESPONSE Response groupSALAR Project on the state of salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta) populations in rivers flowing to the Baltic SeaSCR Selective Catalytic ReductionSYKE Finnish Environment InstituteTARGREV Review of the ecological targets for eutrophication of the HELCOM BSAP projectWWTPs Wastewater treatment plants-----------------------[1] Table of contents and Glossary at the end of the report, p. 45.