Baltic Sea Regional Project Inesis Kikis World Bank

Baltic Sea Regional Project Inesis Kiškis, World Bank

Baltic Sea Environment Program The Baltic Sea Environment Program is a regional environmental program that has progressed from “planning” to “implementation. ”

Why a Baltic Sea Environment Program? n Baltic Sea is a source of well being of 90 million people n Since 1950 the environmental quality of the Baltic Sea has considerably degraded

What Triggered Degradation? n Natural vulnerabilities Semi-enclosed sea n Persistent water stratification n Long residence of the water volume n Slow decomposition rate n n Human contribution: Large nutrient loads n Accumulation of toxic substances n

Prioritization of activities n One can not do everything at once n 132 “hot spots” identified n Source-point pollution vs. non-point pollution: load contribution is equal n Decision: municipal and industrial sources are “easier” to start with

What has been done? n. A number of water and wastewater facilities in Eastern Baltic cities upgraded n Pollution load significantly reduced n Water companies strengthened institutionally

Example – Daugavpils, Latvia

Example – Klaipeda, Lithuania

What did we learn? Investment is not the only answer for achieving the goals of the Program Well defined objectives and priorities n Clear policy frameworks n Institutional strengthening n Well targeted investments n

Second Generation of Projects n To address the non-point source pollution: Rural Environmental Protection Project. n Baltic Sea Regional Project n

Objective of the Project “To create some preconditions for application of the ecosystem approach in managing the Baltic Sea Large Marine Ecosystem in order to achieve and maintain sustainable biological productivity of the Baltic Sea”

Goals of the Project n n n Facilitate strengthening of regional institutions through capacity building efforts Develop and apply an ecosystem-based management strategy to the BSLME Assess and evaluate the socio-economic effects of the ecosystem-based management for farming, fishing and coastal communities

Baltic Sea Regional Project Component 1: Large Marine Ecosystem Activities, ICES Organisation BSSG Baltic WG: s and SG: s Advisory Com Ecosystem C 1 C, ICES Advisory Com Environment Advisory Com Fisheries LME-team HELCOM IBSFC Baltic 21 WWF C 1 AC Coordination Center Fisheries Riga Lead Laboratory ICES surveys Coast fish monit Kaliningrad Tallinn Lead Laboratory fish age/stomach Salmon restor. Riga Coordination Center Ecosystem Health Gdynia Coordination Center GIS Data Vilnius Lead Laboratory Phytob. monit, SOOP Tallinn Lead Laboratory Histopathology Kaliningrad Lead Laboratory Biol. Eff. monit Gdynia Coordination Center Productivity Riga Lead Laboratory Zooplankton Gdynia Coordination Center Socio-economy Tallinn Lead Laboratory alien species Klaipeda International consultants National Laboratories and Institutes

Project organization Baltic Sea Steering Group HELCOM ICES IBSFC Advisory Com Ecosystem Coordinators C 1 C 2 Advisory Com Environment Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland Russia CC, LL, LIU CC, LL, LIU Baltic Sea Com. s/WG. s National Laboratories/authorities Advisory Com Fisheries International Consultants

Coordinated Effort n HELCOM in Cooperation with IBSFC and ICES n Riparian Governments n Non-Governmental Organizations n Scientific Research Institutions n Fishermen, Farmers and their Organizations n Bi- and Multilateral Financiers

Duration of the Project n First phase – 2003 - 2005 n Phases 2 and 3 may follow if Phase 1 is successful