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Overview

International Conventions and Agreements on the Environment

The Helsinki Convention (1974 )

The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (Helsinki Convention) was signed in 1974 by the coastal states of the Baltic Sea at that time. It entered into force in 1980. In 1992, a new Helsinki Convention was signed by all the countries bordering on the Baltic Sea and by the European Economic Community (EEC).

The Helsinki Convention, issued to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea, was the first international agreement to cover all sources of pollution, both from land and from ships as well as airborne. To accomplish its aim, it calls for action to curb various sources of pollution.

The text of the Helsinki Convention includes 29 articles plus Annexes I-VI, while that of the new version (1992) includes 39 articles plus Annexes I-VII. Its governing body is the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM). The Contracting Parties to the Convention are: Denmark, Estonia, European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

The text of the 1974 version of the Helsinki Convention did not include provisions for nature conservation and biodiversity issues. This omission was addressed in the 1992 version by the inclusion of Article 15 stating that Contracting Parties shall individually take all appropriate measures with respect to the Baltic Sea Area and its coastal ecosystems influenced by the Baltic Sea to conserve natural habitats and biological diversity and to protect ecological processes.

In March 1994, the Helsinki Commission prepared the Recommendation 15/5 stating that:

a) Contracting Parties should take all appropriate measures to establish a system of Coastal and Marine Baltic Sea Protected Areas. A preliminary list of areas of interest is attached to this recommendation;

b) the system of Coastal and Marine Baltic Sea Protected Areas must gradually be developed as new knowledge and information becomes available. Special attention shall be paid to including additional coastal terrestrial areas and marine areas outside the territorial waters. Appropriate guidelines for the selection of further areas shall be elaborated by the expert working group EC NATURE incorporating guidelines for the designation of "Particularly Sensitive Areas";

c) before any decisions are made which could lead to major reductions in size, management quality or protection status of a Coastal and Marine Baltic Sea Protected Area that is already notified to the Helsinki Commission, the Commission shall be notified and be invited within 6 months to express its opinion on the proposed changes;

d) management plans are established for each Coastal and Marine Baltic Sea Protected Area to ensure nature protection and sustainable use of natural resources. These management plans shall consider all possible negatively affecting activities. In some areas a zoning system will be an appropriate means to facilitate the achievement of satisfactory protection. Appropriate guidelines for making such management plans shall be elaborated by the working group EC NATURE incorporating corresponding guidelines of IUCN - The World Conservation Union; and

e) a monitoring programme is incorporated into the management plans in an appropriate number of these areas including at least monitoring of biological, physical and chemical parameters. The monitoring programme shall be integrated within the Baltic Monitoring Programme of the Helsinki Commission.

The above mentioned guidelines - Guidelines for designated marine and coastal Baltic Sea Protected Areas (BSPA) and proposed protection categories as well as Guidelines for management of BSPAs - have been elaborated and adopted within the HELCOM framework in 1995.

A total of 63 Baltic Sea Protected Areas have been established, as of December 1997 (see Annex 2a). However, official recognition of many of these sites is still pending at national level. Currently only three sites have been officially recognised.

Additional information on Conventions can be found at the external web sites listed in the Links section.