Symposium on Environmental Problems of the Baltic Sea

Maaria Solin, School of Marine Affairs

University of Washington

The Baltic is a region of serious environmental problems, but with the help of the international community, the problems are being addressed and slowly mitigated. This was the central theme of the Symposium on Environmental Problems of the Baltic Sea, which was held at the University of Washington on Friday, May 5th, 1995, and sponsored by the Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies Center and the West European Studies Center at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. Although the Nordic countries contribute their own share of Baltic pollution, the most serious problems arise from the ex-Soviet republics/ satellites, namely Poland and the Baltic states.

The most serious issues concerning Baltic pollution were outlined by Valdas Adamkus, Regional Administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency (Region 5). Dr. Adamkus has visited the region annually since the 1972 signing of the environmental cooperation agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union and has come to the conclusion that the root cause of the large scale environmental degradation which took place in the Baltic republics was neglect on the part of the Soviet Union. The Soviet system did not take environmental considerations into account until 0 was too late. The poor state of the environment was also one of the contributors to the independence drive of the Baltic republics in the 1 980s.

The pollution entering the Baltic Sea from these countries has two basic sources: untreated (or poorly treated) municipal wastewater, and industrial discharges. Seventy-three percent of wastewater in Lithuania receives only primary treatment, and of the remaining percentage, all too often the treatment plants are not operational for a variety of reasons. The same situation can be found in the other states as well. This situation is not helped by the natural condition of the Baltic Sea itself. The Baltic is one of smallest seas in the world. It is also essentially a closed ecosystem in that the exchange of water with the North Sea is very minimal (about 4%), so R would take approximately 25 years for the Baltic to fully exchange its water. The Sea also has a very low salinity level which means that, for example, bacteria (i.e. salmonella) originating from the fresh water rivers which feed the Baltic can survive much longer than they would in a more saline water body And finally, the prevailing winds, currents, tides, etc. do not favor the Baltic states. Pollution from southern neighbors is driven up along the coasts of the Baltic states, thereby exacerbating an already serious local coastal pollution situation. To correct the situation in the Baltic Sea, money is needed. And help from the international community is essential, since these countries and their neighbors do not have the funds necessary to mitigate all of the problems on their own.

Kyle Olson from the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute highlighted another aspect of the environmental situation of the Baltic. There are thousands of tons of chemical munitions on the sea floor of the Baltic. Most of these are the result of the disposal of Nazi chemical munitions after the Second World War. Although there are a few confirmed disposal skies (i.e. the trench off Southeast Gotland), there is also speculation about numerous unconfirmed sites. The level of uncertainty associated with these disposals is high - no one knows for sure exactly how much is in the Baltic (i.e. a is not confirmed whether the Soviet Union continued to dump munitions in the region), where the sires are, and what will be the environmental consequences of these past actions. Most of these chemicals are very toxic and lethal, and are soluble to varying degrees; it is not known what will happen when the munitions start leaking. Although the Russians have calculated that the Hems disposed of after the Second World War should not start leaking until the middle of the next century there are already reports of increasing amounts of contamination (the Danish have caught in excess of 760,000 kg of contaminated fish in the Baltic Sea). A system of identification of the contaminated sees, clean up, and monitoring should be established before the situation gets out of hand.

The poor status of fish stocks in the Baltic Sea is not the result of over fishing, as is the general perception, according to Tomasz Linkowski of the Sea Fisheries Institute in Poland. Rather, with few exceptions, the decline in fish stocks can be attributed to the increasing eutrophication (reduction of oxygen levels) of the region. Eutrophication is the result of the large amount of nutrients (i.e. phosphorus and nitrogen) which enter the Baltic system, and because the waters are so poorly exchanged, the increasingly stagnant waters cannot be adequately replaced by highly oxygenated sea water. For most species commercially harvested in the Baltic, the catches are (and have been) well below the limbs established by the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission, thus, the decline in stocks has not been the result of over fishing. Cod, however is another matter. As this is a very attractive fish commercially (the price is high), the catches for this stock have consistently been above the recommended and agreed- upon levels; the stock is now depleted to the point where recovery does not seem

possible. Yet the fishing for cod continues, and the degradation of the Baltic has not yet been significantly reversed.

Tilt Maran described the conservation strategy of Estonia. This small republic had been a leader in nature conservation during the Soviet era, and continues to be so now. There are a variety of different conservation tools available in Estonia, as many environmental laws have been passed since Estonia's independence. These range from National Parks to species and object- specific protection. The various conservation areas found in Estonia are:

•National Parks: usually large areas, with strictly protected areas where no human activities are allowed, except for scientific purposes;

• Nature Reserves: areas which are used only for scientific and educational purposes. They are divided into nature preserves and special management areas;

• Reserves: areas which are managed not only for nature conservation, but also for recreation and resource exploitation. Reserves are divided into different categories: landscape, mire, ornithological, botanical, botanical-zoological, and geological.

There is also a Biosphere Reserve in Estonia, which contains a protected 'core' area, surrounded by various buffer zones.

In addition to the system of protected areas, there is a system for the protection of natural monuments in Estonia. These include Protected Natural Objects (areas of land or water, natural monuments, or various species), and Protected Natural Monuments (single objects of scientific, cultural, or historical importance). Estonia is also party to an increasing number of international agreements and conventions (such as the Helsinki Convention, the Rio Convention, the RAMSAR convention on the protection of wetlands, and CITES - international protection of endangered species).

Vladimir Kaczynski, from the School of Marine Affairs at the University of Washington, discussed the importance of integrated marine sector policy for the Baltic region, and in particular the Baltic states. The pollution problems of the Sea are mostly due to the activities which take place on land (i.e. forestry and agricultural practices, municipal and industrial discharges, unplanned urban development). The Baltic republics inherited a very inefficient and grossly exaggerated system from the Soviet Union - a system that must be restructured. For example, the fishing fleets of the Baltic republics were designed as part of the immense Soviet distant water fishing fleets. Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the foreign fishing rights were transferred to Russia, thus, the three states must readjust their huge fishing fleets for the much smaller Baltic fishery. This will be a difficult task. It is also imperative that the nations undertake realistic pricing policies. The price distortions which were in place under the Soviet system encouraged the wasteful use of resources, and did not reflect the true prices of the resources, nor the environmental "externalities" of the system (the huge pollution

generated by the reckless use of resources and the lack of pollution abatement techniques). With more accurate and realistic pricing policies, resources will be more efficiently used and pollution loads can be reduced through the utilization of various economic policies. All of this also depends on international, and in particular, regional cooperation and assistance. The Baltic countries do not have enough financial resources of their own to initiate the reforms necessary. However, with regional and international assistance, the Baltics will be able to restructure their economies, and thus reduce the pollution loads inherited from the Soviet system.

The Conference ended with a very positive message from Stephen Lintner of the World Bank. The international community is coming together to assist the Baltic region, and mitigative actions are being undertaken. The main Vehicle for this cooperation is the Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Plan (otherwise known as the Baltic Environmental Program). Other environmental programmers have been established around the world (i.e., in the Mediterranean the Black Sea, the Red Sea), but the Program in the Baltic has been the most effective due to the high level of commitment at all political levels.

The main objective of the Program is to bring together the nations of the Baltic drainage basin for effective cooperation, cooperation which includes action. (The first Helsinki Convention did not address land sources of pollution within the entire drainage basin and thus was not effective in reducing the level of pollutants entering the system.) The program not only includes the involved states, but also various international financial organizations and NGOs (non-governmental organizations, including environmental organizations). With the help of the international financial organizations, such as the World Bank, progress is being made in the region Although the environmental degradation is immense in the region, taken one step at a time, the problems can be overcome. For example, there are large numbers of partially completed sewage treatment plants in the region, particularly in Lithuania and Poland. These were begun during the Soviet era, but due to the lack of financial resources, were never completed. Thus, a large part of the cost of treatment has already been invested, and it is relatively less expensive to invest in the completion of the projects than to construct a completely new system. In addition, large parts of the non point source pollution can be alleviated by improving such things as agricultural practices. Industrial pollution is one area which has not yet received much international aid. The reason for the delay is the lack of stability in restructuring the industries, most of which are large state- owned corporations. The bulk of funds have gone to municipal treatment plants. Lintner estimates that the World Bank has spent an aggregate of $200 million in each Baltic republic to date. The Program began in 1992, and is expected to last 20 years, but the results of the efforts currently underway are already beginning to appear.