Environmental Co-operation in the Baltic Region
Preface
The countries in the Baltic area were the first to develop a regional action plan for a sustainable development and the region may also be the first to show the way towards a common regional sustainable development within the EU. Many of the countries have applied for accession to the EU and through membership, and thereby a closer co-operation with the other parts of Europe, these countries may participate in setting the agenda in the EU co-operation and thereby show the way forward.
The co-operation within the fields of environment and energy in the Baltic area started long before the fall of the wall in the HELCOM co-operation. The countries have for a long time been working on ameliorating the environment in the Baltic through the Helsinki Convention and its recommendations. Since then, the entire co-operation within the field of environment has gone through a long phase of renewal and many news fields of cooperation have been started. Not least thanks to the Baltic Agenda 21 project, which among others took an important step towards integration of environmental considerations in a great number of growth sectors. The integration of environmental considerations within other sectors as a means to obtain a sustainable development has thereby come on the agenda in the Baltic area.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency has published this book with help from the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish Forest and Nature Agency. The objective of publishing a book concerning the trans-boundary pollution of the Baltic area, the conventions in force and the other parts of the environmental co-operation is a wish to make an overview of the most important actors and activities within this area. It is my hope that this book will be of inspiration for a more targeted co-operation in the area towards a sustainable development.
Steen Gade