Baltic Sea

 

The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, as a governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area", works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and also the European Community.

On 11 September 2006 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between HELCOM and the Regional Seas Office of UNEP with the objective to assess the scale of the problem and the main sources of marine litter in the Baltic and to set priorities for response. This will be done through the development of a document “Assessment of the Marine Litter problem in the Baltic Region and Priorities for Response”, expected to be complete in 2007.