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Garbage on the shores of the Baltic Sea near Kiel
Photo: Petra Nowack / penofoto / IMAGO
Like many other seas and oceans, the Baltic Sea is plagued by a number of problems.
To name just a few: nutrients from agriculture cause algal blooms, rubbish swims in the sea and in some places harmful chemicals are released from rotting World War II bombs on the bottom.
Therefore, the Baltic Sea is to be protected more strongly in the future. Above all, the Baltic states want to take action against plastic waste and over-fertilization. The members of the Helsinki Commission (Helcom) and the Environment Commissioner of the European Union unanimously agreed on this at their meeting in Lübeck. With the updated Baltic Sea Action Plan there is now a clear roadmap for the next ten years, said the Executive Secretary of Helcom, Rüdiger Strempel, at the presentation of the plan on Wednesday. By 2030 the good ecological condition of the sea is to be restored and the pollution of the Baltic Sea is to be drastically reduced.
The action plan, which comprises around 200 points, updates that of 2007. Topics such as climate change, marine litter, pharmaceuticals, underwater noise and disturbances to the sea floor have been added, said Strempel.
Plastic waste in the Baltic Sea is to be reduced by at least 30 percent by 2025 and by 50 percent by 2030.
Lack of oxygen in the water
Overfertilization was identified as the most pressing problem.
The entry of such funds from agriculture leads to an excessive concentration of nutrients in the sea.
This creates harmful algal blooms, which lead to a lack of oxygen in deep waters and disrupt marine biodiversity.
Studies had shown years ago that around 20 percent of the seabed between Denmark and the Åland Islands are downright dead zones with almost no life.
In addition, the participants decided for the first time a science agenda for the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP).
The countries bordering the Baltic Sea, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the EU are represented in Helcom.
Germany currently holds the chairmanship.
Criticism from the WWF
The measures are not enough for environmentalists. According to WWF, the Baltic Sea could not be saved in this way. There are no binding commitments to restore the good environmental status of one of the most threatened marine ecosystems in the world, the organization said.
"In view of the catastrophic state of the Baltic Sea, the approaches to its protection are too weak," it said.
The new plan outlines the necessary measures, but clear political commitments are needed for real implementation at national level, says Heike Vesper, Head of Marine Protection at WWF Germany.
In order to improve the environment in the Baltic Sea, the contracting parties would have to significantly reduce the overall negative impact of human activities.
Overfishing, overfertilization, bottom habitats destroyed by bottom trawling and global heating mean that the ecological system of the Baltic Sea is out of whack.
joe / dpa
