Welcome to the CCB Newsletter on the Internet!
Editor: Alexander Fedorov, cei@cei.ru , Centre for Environmental Initiatives.
Please find other CCB Newsletter issues here.

MAIN NEWS

Maria Staniszewska - Baltic Prize 2005 winner
Maria Staniszewska, member of the CCB Board and President of the CCB member organization Polski Klub Ekologiczny (PKE), is the recipient of the 2005 Baltic Sea Fund prize!
Coalition Clean Baltic is very happy to congratulate Maria with this high award for her significant contribution for the benefit of the environment of the Baltic Sea.
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THEME OF THE ISSUE

Summing up the results of the year 2004
Interview with the CCB Chairman
In an interview, Valdur Lahtvee, the Coalition Clean Baltic Chairman, answers the questions about:
- The year 2004 for Coalition Clean Baltic;
- The main environmental problems for the Baltic Sea;
- Major accomplishments by CCB in 2004;
- CCB failures in 2004;
- Main challenges CBB is facing.
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OTHER NEWS

A Norwegian government committee has proposed 16 national sustainability indicators to provide follow-up to the Government's action plan for sustainable development. In contrast to an EU list of 14 sustainability indicators published in 2003, more than half of the indicators on Norwegians' list are directly environment related.
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HELCOM will begin to develop an Action Plan based on Ecological Quality Objectives
in order to achieve a healthy Baltic Sea. This decision was unanimously adopted by representatives of all the Baltic Sea countries at the 26th annual Meeting of the Helsinki Commission, which took place 1-2 March in Helsinki, Finland. The draft European Marine Strategy, now being elaborated by the EU, foresees a separate action plan for each of the European seas.
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Russia and the eight EU countries bordering the Baltic Sea agreed three new anti-pollution resolutions at the annual meeting of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) this week. The resolutions deal with radioactivity, waterborne pollution, and measures to discourage dumping ship-source garbage and sewage at sea.
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The European Commission has decided to pursue legal action against Finland, Sweden and Denmark for violations of EU environmental laws on nature protection and industrial pollution. The Commission is referring Finland to the European Court of Justice over hunting of wolves and sending Sweden a final written warning over the hunting and destruction of cormorants and rooks. Denmark is to receive a final written warning over its approach to controlling pollution from large pig and poultry farms.
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New EU web site for European environmental research
explains how the Commission's Environment research programme is tackling this huge research challenge through the right policies, projects and people.
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An EU project has come up with a system for assessing coastal water quality in Europe. GIS system to monitor the sanitary state of Europe's' coasts.
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The European Commission will take Germany to the European Court of Justice
for not having fully transposed into its national legislation the EU Water Framework Directive.
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Members of the European Parliament (MEP) call for crackdown on pollution by ships in EU waters.
The Transport Committee on Wednesday, 19 January 2005, demanded strict EU sanctions against illegal oil pollution in EU waters. MEPs called for ship-source discharges of polluting substances to be regarded as criminal offences if committed with intent, recklessly or by gross negligence. In the most serious cases prison sentences should not be ruled out, they said.
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Finland tops environmental scorecard at World Economic Forum in Davos.
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New rules giving the European public better access to environmental information
become binding for all European Union Member States. The new directive strengthens the existing EU rules in this area, aligning them with the environmental information requirements of the 1998 Aarhus Convention. This Convention grants the public access to environmental information, provides for public participation in environmental decision-making and allows the public to seek redress when environmental law is infringed.
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Russia blocks new guidelines on requirements for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for harmful installations in the Baltic Sea Region, at the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) meeting 1-2 March 2005.
CCB requests HELCOM to assess the problem of Industrial hog rearing farms in the Baltic Sea Region.
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It could be possible that the Baltic Sea Ecosystem has flipped and is currently locked in a eutrophic state.
This is said in a scientific report recently published by the Swedish Environmental Advisory Council.
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COMING EVENTS

The second HELCOM Youth Forum will be organised from 2 to 4 August 2005 in Rostock (Germany). Students from all Baltic Sea riparian states are invited to participate in the event. Possible participants should have reached a bachelor's or comparable degree. They should be interested in Baltic Sea affairs, regardless what dicipline, be it natural or political science, law or other, of related to the issue of "cooperation for the Baltic".
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The European Commission's GREEN WEEK Conference 2005
will come alive from 31 May to 3 June. As each year, the event will focus on a particular environmental issue. This year the central theme is Getting to Grips with Climate Change.
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