Hermanni Backer

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Spatial Dimensions of the HELCOM Baltic Sea
Action Plan

• Hermanni Backer
• HELCOM Secretariat

VASAB Annual Conference April 2008, Riga, Latvia
Guilielmo Blaeuw ca. 1660
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HELCOM

• The Convention on the Protection of the Marine
  Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1974 and 1992
• Governing body Baltic Marine Environment
  Protection Commission HELCOM
• Regional policy maker and bridge between science
  and policy
• Monitoring and assessment
• Recommendations,
• Ministerial Declarations,
• Input to International processes (IMO, EU)

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HELCOM joint monitoring programmes

• PLC-Air and PLC-Water
• COMBINE Programme
• physical forcing, nutrient chemistry, biota
  (phyto- and zooplankton, zoobenthos,
  phytobenthos, coastal fish, and sediment
• Hazardous substances in water, biota and
  sediments
• MORS inputs and state of radionuclides in the
  various compartments (water, biota, sediment)
• Surveillance of deliberate illegal oil discharges
  
• Inventory of shipping accidents
• ..Results in data for assessments
• to be used in environmental management

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Ecosystem Approach and central role of Indicators

• HELCOM OSPAR Ministerial Meeting in 2003
• European Marine Strategy 2005
• HELCOM Ministerial meeting 2007

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Objectives, indicators and management of
eutrophication
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Result HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (November
2007)

• Environmental integration
• Agriculture
• Fisheries
• Maritime safety
• Municipalities Industry
• National Regional
• EU (e.g. CFP, CAP)
• Global (e.g. IMO)

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Environmental human systems

• Can the natural and the artificial be regarded as
  two separate realms?

Environment(Natural Environment)
Man-made Environment (Artificial Environment)
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Baltic example protected areas shipping
Baltic Sea Protected Areas (HELCOM/ Hanna
Paulomäki 2007)
Baltic maritime traffic (HELCOM/ Samuli Neuvonen
2008)
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Needs Geostatistical dataof states but also
pressures

• INSPIRE related activities focus on geographic
  standards and data more focus on regional
  statistics with a spatial dimension is needed
• European database initiatives (SEIS including
  WISE etc) are ways to correct this, but
  nevertheless focused on status environment where
  are the direct links to socio-economical
  statistics?
• Indicators of socio-economic development and
  environmental status should be shown in the same
  information system!

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Managing Spatial dimensions

• Indicators and targets present the status of the
  environment topicwise
• Manageable human pressures in marine areas are
  inherently spatial, e.g.
• Maritime traffic
• Nature conservation
• Fishing (commercial and recreational)
• Infrastructure constructions
• How to ensure sustainability of the sum of such
  spatial activities and thus good status of
  environment?
• Is (Marine) Spatial Planning an answer for the
  spatial problem complex?
• Regional solutions need regional scale data and
  plans

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Policy framework for HELCOM Marine Spatial
Planning

• Overall regional work HELCOM and e.g. VASAB 2010
  (1992)
• MPAs- HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 15/5 (1994)
• Maritime Traffic HELCOM Copenhagen Declaration
  (2001)
• ICZM -HELCOM RECOMMENDATION 24/10 (2003)
• HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan
• Develop by 2010, as well as test, apply and
  evaluate by 2012, in co-operation with other
  relevant international bodies, broad-scale,
  cross-sectoral, marine spatial planning
  principles based on the Ecosystem Approach
• Recommendation 28E/9 on development of
  broad-scale marine spatial planning principles
• EU Maritime Policy (Blue Book)
• National implementation of integrated marine
  spatial planning
• 2008 proposed guidelines for national policies
  and development of a road map for marine spatial
  planning

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HELCOM activities to deliver MSP

• Kickoff HELCOM secretariat project for drafting
  initial MSP concept document and GIS site for
  HELCOM use in the regional scale (ongoing
  November 2009)
• HELCOM efforts to develop its secretariat GIS
  services to regionally integrate statistics
  (monitoring data) and spatial information
• Cooperation with all stakeholders, including
  VASAB 2010, to ensure optimal synergies

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www.helcom.fi
Thank you!
Presentation funded by the European Community
Action 21.0401/2007/485831/SUB/D2