Our Common Baltic 2006

Group photo of the OCB 2006 participants

23/08/2006

Between 26 June and 2 July, CCB together with Stensund Folkhighschool arranged for the 16 th time the summer course ”Our Common Baltic”. The 12 participants came from Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

CCB is an important platform for promoting cross-border NGO cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. At the OCB-course people from the CCB network gather to learn more about the Baltic Sea ecosystem and about each other. The course therefore constitutes an important part of the network since it is easier to work together for a better Baltic Sea environment with people you know.

During the first three days of the course the participants get an understanding about the problems that prevents the Baltic from being a healthy sea. The people living in its catchment area insert a substantial amount of waste and deplete its natural resources by for example overfishing.

Last year's harmful algal bloom is underlining the importance of cooperation over the boarders of the countries around the Baltic. During the week of the OCB course the effects of the nutrient overload in the Baltic Sea were showing. It had not yet turned too bad, but the visibility in the water was clearly low due to the presence of huge amount of algae. We also saw the Bladderack (Fucus vesiculosus) being smothered by the Pilayella. The Bladderack is an indication species for a healthy sea while the Pilayella indicates too much nutrients in the water.

The White tailed eagle pictures the positive effect brought by a better environmental management. Today it is common to see it and it has become an indication species of the OCB-course. If you don't see it during the days on board the sailing ship Amalia you could have to attend the course again. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) we got to see them this year also.

As every year the participants get to know local people that has lived their lives in the archipelago. Today they are retired but happily share their story about the hard but giving livelihoods as fishermen, farmers and hunters. The last night of the course we were dancing at the pier at Bengt and Ingrid Blohm's. You could see that it reminded the couple of older days' joyful dancing with the families from the surrounding islands.

Nina Palutskaya from Neman Environment Group in Belarus has made a beautiful web page about the course on: www.nemanenvironment.org.

Sailing ship Amalia in sunset

From the left: retired fisherman Evert Pettersson, captain Ulf Busch and OCB teacher, Eva Janssson

See Nina Polutskaya's website about the course here

Here you find:
The photgallery
The participant list