Baltic Sea Portal

International cooperation

Solutions and actions to ease the Baltic’s problems

The Baltic Sea is affected by human activities in all of the countries around its shores, so cooperation plays a vital role in protecting the marine environment and solving related problems.

The Helsinki Convention on the protection of the Baltic marine environment was signed in 1980, establishing the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), through which all of the coastal countries and the EU cooperate on related issues.

HELCOM aims to restore the sea to a good state

HELCOM’s international Baltic Sea Action Plan aims to restore the sea to a good state by 2021, by addressing key issues including eutrophication, hazardous substances, threats related to shipping, and the conservation of marine biodiversity.

Measures include maximum limits agreed for each coastal country’s emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus, aiming to curb eutrophication. Finland has separately resolved to reduce nutrient loads in the Archipelago Sea to levels lower than international commitments would require.

Nordic cooperation

Finland has long been involved in Nordic cooperation to benefit the Baltic Sea, through the Nordic Council of Ministers and the EU’s Northern Dimension Programme. Finland also participates in the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), which has its own Baltic 21 programme that aims to promote sustainable development.

EU marine strategy

The EU works to protect all European seas. The Water Framework Directive requires protective measures and reductions in pollution loads in the catchment area of the Baltic Sea, and a wide-ranging EU marine strategy aims to ensure that all Europe’s seas are in a good state by 2020. The EU has also developed a separate Baltic strategy whose aims include a clean sea and an economically thriving Baltic region.

Finland is also committed under other international conventions to promote the conservation of biodiversity in the Baltic Sea, to reduce releases of harmful and hazardous substances into the sea, and to conduct environmental impact analyses for various significant projects. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) additionally works to protect the marine environment against the harmful impacts of shipping.

Regional cooperation

Finland supports many environmental projects in Northwest Russia, aiming to reduce harmful impacts in Finnish marine waters and the Baltic as a whole. These projects address vital issues including wastewater treatment in St Petersburg, harmful loads from settlements and farms, risks related to oil transportation, the management of hazardous substances, and nature conservation.

Collaboration to mitigate climate change is also being enhanced. Projects seek to apply Finnish environmental technologies and expertise, promote training, tighten the monitoring of emissions, and enhance environmental legislation.

Finland’s protection policies

Finland’s national protection policies particularly strive to improve conditions in coastal waters. Finland´s Programme for the Protection of the Baltic Sea, accepted in 2002, strives to reduce eutrophication and improve the state of marine waters and ecosystems, while preserving the biodiversity of marine and coastal habitats. The programme also aims to reduce risks related to hazardous substances and the transportation of oil and chemicals.

The programme was subsequently supported by a new set of water protection guidelines (Finnish Government decisionin- principle on Water Protection Policy Outlines to 2015) issued by the government in 2006 for application until 2015.