The symbolic welding together of two pieces of pipeline on 9 December
became a part of the ceremony for starting construction of the North
European Gas Pipeline near the village Babayevo in Vologda Region,
Russia. The pipeline from Russia to Germany will have 1200 km of its
route on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
Please find more facts about the North European Gas Pipeline here.
Coalition Clean Baltic activists express their opinions and concerns
about this project.
Please find interviews with them here.
NEWS
CCB 4th Seminar on Working Under the EU Water Framework Directive
was held on 16-17 December 2005 in Tallinn, Estonia. The seminar participants exchanged their national experiences of
NGO work in CCB priority areas that are closely connected to EU Water Framework Directive. Also, they listened to various experts who gave popular
overview presentations on their work.
Please find more information about the Seminar and presentations from the Seminar here.
Please find the photos from the seminar here.
CCB Seminar on Salmon Poaching in the Baltic Sea Area
was held in 17-18 December 2005 in Tallinn, Estonia. The seminar participants exchanged their visions of the problems
of salmon poaching, good examples and visions on co-operation possibilities with different state institutions and stakeholders for improvement of
the situation, and discussed the problems and common initiatives for the future.
Please find more information about the Seminar and presentations from the Seminar here.
Please find the photos from the seminar here.
HELCOM overviews the Baltic Sea health
The Helsinki Commission released on 15 December a special issue (No. 4/2005) of its Newsletter, HELCOM News,
featuring an overview of current trends in the Baltic marine environment. The articles are based on the latest HELCOM assessments, which
form the backbone of the Commission's work providing objective information on the health of the Baltic Sea, and helping to define the need
for further environmental actions. The overview provides a quick insight into the environmental issues affecting the Baltic Sea today, while
also serving as a useful foundation for a wider study of the Baltic marine environment.
View the PDF version of HELCOM news here.
Survey: Europeans prefer responsibly sourced seafood
In the first-ever poll of European consumers, supermarkets, chefs and restaurateurs on attitudes toward seafood and the ocean, 79 per cent said that
the environmental impact of seafood is an important factor in their purchasing decisions.
Read more
Member states fail to address the chemical threat
Environmental, women's, health and consumer organisations expressed disappointment that EU ministers failed today to seize a
unique opportunity to protect people and the environment from the threat of toxic chemicals.
Read more
Commission proposes European strategy for the sustainable use of natural resources
The European Commission has proposed a new approach aiming at more sustainable use of natural resources. The objective is to reduce
environmental impacts associated with resource use in Europe and globally in a growing economy.
Read more
European Commission Review of EU Sustainable Development Strategy
The European Commission has recently released its review of the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy, in which it called on all governments, businesses, NGOs
and citizens to come up with new and better ways to move towards a more sustainable way of life. The review reiterates the Commission's commitment to continue to
play a key part in achieving change whilst setting out further concrete actions for the coming years, and aims to mobilise all those who have the capacity to bring
about change on the ground.
View full review here.
Goodbye cod!
With the decisions on 22 Dec 2005, EU Fisheries Ministers have effectively written off cod in the North Sea.
Read more
Water Framework Directive: State of Implementation
The WFD scoreboard has been updated to reflect the last submissions by Member States.
Please find it here.
All Article 3 (River Basin Districts) and Article 5 (River Basin Districts Analysis) reports have been made publicly available through the WFD CIRCA website.
Please find them here.
Europe needs to adapt to climate change
Climate change is happening, and will affect all aspects of European life. Our ecosystems, biodiversity, agricultural practices,
fisheries, forestry, water resources, tourism, human health and energy systems are all likely to change during this century, according
to a briefing and report released on 7 December 2005 by the European Environment Agency. Mountain regions, coastal zones, wetlands and the
Mediterranean are especially vulnerable to climate change.
Europe needs to adapt.
EEA Briefing 3/2005:
Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in Europe
EEA Technical Report:
Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change in Europe
Documents from the EU10 - Göteborg Ministerial Conference available
The documents from the EU10 - Göteborg Ministerial Conference titled "Towards a Sustainable Knowledge Society - the Nordic Experience", held in
Göteborg on 14 and 15 November 2005 are now available. The event, promoted with support from BEIDS, was aimed at encouraging the Baltic States which
recently joined the EU to adapt best practice concerning the information society and regional development, with the support of structural funds.
Further details are available here.
COMING EVENTS
Baltic Sea Action Plan Stakeholder Conference
7 March 2006, Helsinki, Finland
The Helsinki Commission will hold a kick-off Stakeholder Conference on the development of the Baltic Sea Action Plan prior to the Commission's annual Meeting.
Read more
Protection of population from increased noise influence
March 21-22 2006, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Baltic State Technical University in St. Petersburg in cooperation with the City Administration will host the international conference and
educational seminar "Protection of population from increased noise influence". The conference is held under aegis of the Governor of Saint-Petersburg.
Further details are available from: Dr. Marina Butorina, Baltic State Technical University, 1st Krasnoarmeyskaya Str., 1, 190005 Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
Tel./fax: + 7 812 5338907, E-mail: marina_butorina-at-inbox.ru
World Water Day 2006: Water and Culture
22 March 2006, Everywhere, the Globe
In 1992, the United Nations declared 22 March to be World Water day. Everybody is invited to devote the Day, to concrete activities such as the promotion
of public awareness through the publication and diffusion of documentaries and the organization of conferences, round tables, seminars and expositions related
to the conservation and development of water resources and the implementation of the recommendations of Agenda 21. World Water Day (WWD) 2006 will be guided by
the theme 'Water and Culture' under the leadership of UNESCO.
Further details on the event are available here.
International DWA symposium on water resources management "Water Berlin 2006"
This symposium is divided in three parts:
3-4 April 2006 Fish passes and water ecology,
5 April 2006 Water balance on basin and global scale in relation to landscape management
6-7 April 2006 Climate change and its challenges towards water resources management
Further details on the event are available here.
Current Issues of Sustainable Development
24-25 April 2006, Opole, Poland.
This international conference is organised by Opole University, Faculty of Economics, supported by the European Reference Point for Technology
Transfer for Sustainable Development (http://www.tutech.de/sd), the Interreg IIB Project "Watersketch"
(http://www.watersketch.net) and BEIDS. Papers
are now being invited from scholars of disciplines involved in issues of Sustainable Development, e.g. economics, geography, environmental sciences, law,
and social sciences.
Further details on the event are available here.
Training Course on the Introduction of a Sustainability Dimension into European and North American
University Systems
26-28 April 2006 Hamburg, Germany
This ground-breaking training course will be the first of its nature and will meet a long-perceived need to address a major problem in implementing
sustainable development in universities in both Europe and North America: the lack of specialised training.
Further details are available here.
Marine Nature Conservation in Europe 2006
8 - 12 May 2006, Stralsund, Germany
The Conference is organised by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
(BfN) in cooperation with the German Oceanographic Museum (DMM)
in Stralsund. It will deal specifically with the current status of marine nature conservation policies, conservation science, and the management of human
activities in European and adjacent waters.
Further details are available here.
International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Congress
18 - 23 June 2006, Barcelona, Spain
The four main topics of this congress are: technical solutions to reduce time and costs in dam design and construction, management of the downstream
impacts of dam operation, safety of earth- and rockfill dams, and flood and drought evaluation and management.
Further details are available here.
World Water Week in Stockholm
20-26 August 2006, Stockholm, Sweden
The meeting place for experts from businesses, governments, the water management and science sectors, inter-governmental organisations, NGOs,
research and training institutions and United Nations agencies. The deadline for abstract submittal is February 1, 2006.
Read more.
Please find other CCB Newsletter issues here.
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