Sweden to host meeting to seek UN protection for Baltic Sea

STOCKHOLM (AFP) Jul 11, 2003
Sweden will in September host a meeting of Baltic Sea states aimed at drafting a request for special UN protection for the sea amid increasing maritime traffic and illegal oil dumping, the Swedish government said Friday.

Environmentalists are particularly concerned about pollution in the Baltic Sea because of the slow rate of natural cleansing. The sea has only a narrow outlet to the ocean, and any pollution tends to remain trapped for a long time.

Sweden has been pushing to get the United Nations' International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to bestow the "Particularly Sensitive Sea Area" status to the Baltic.

Four such sites already exist: the Great Barrier Reef off Australia, Cuba's Sabana-Camaguey archipelago, Malpelo Island in Colombia and the Florida Keys in the United States.

Among other benefits, the status enables bordering countries to set special standards for ships' technical quality or the crew's training.

Sweden's and Finland's environment and infrastructure ministers on Friday sent invitations for the September 11-12 meeting to their colleagues in countries bordering the Baltic.

Russia is among those invited, even though Russian officials recently made it clear that they would not support any attempts to protect the Baltic.

Increased environmental demands for the Baltic would mean that oil coming from Russia would become more expensive than that from other countries.

For the IMO to consider giving the Baltic Sea special status, a joint application must be submitted by December.

"It is obvious that Russia is not going to change its negative attitude to an application in the short term, but there is an open approach to continued discussions," Swedish Environment Minister Lena Sommestad said in a statement.

"It is my hope that Russia could eventually join our effort," the minister added.

According to environmentalist group Greenpeace, which launched an appeal in September for the special status, the Baltic Sea is "seriously threatened (...) by farming, industries, traffic, sewage and other sources of discharges."

Illegal dumping of oil and other chemicals has led to "widespread bird deaths, damages to the seabed, high oil levels and long-lived chemicals in the water, as well as ruined coastlines", the group said.

TERRA.WIRE