Accelerating the Baltic Sea Action Plan Implementation: A Call to Action for a Healthier Baltic Sea

CCB • December 12, 2024

Uppsala/Helsinki, 12 December 2024 - Today, we have launched a new publication, Accelerating the Baltic Sea Action Plan Implementation, addressing the urgent need for the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) governments to enhance their efforts in implementing the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP). As submitted for discussion to the 6th HELCOM Informal Consultation Session of the Heads of Delegation (HOD) - which is currently taking place in Helsinki, Finland - this publication emphasizes that ecological recovery requires immediate, coordinated action.


Our lives in the Baltic Sea region depend on healthy and diverse marine and coastal ecosystems. Protecting, restoring, and maintaining their health is vital to sustaining our future. However, the latest HELCOM holistic assessment (HOLAS 3) shows the Baltic Sea is not on a path to recovery. Pressures from climate change, biodiversity loss, and cumulative impacts of human activities continue to grow, jeopardizing our shared marine ecosystem.


In our publication, we outline the critical actions required to reverse this trend and achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES) of the Baltic Sea by 2030. 


Key Recommendations Include:

  • Strengthening political commitment to prioritize BSAP targets;
  • Embedding Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) as a core principle;
  • Allocating necessary financial and human resources to meet BSAP obligations;
  • Enhancing cross-border and cross-sectoral collaboration at all levels;
  • Ensuring accountability through transparent evaluation and monitoring mechanisms;
  • Adhering to agreed deadlines with consequences for non-compliance and addressing ongoing ecocide.


“The HOLAS 3 report makes it certainly clear: incomplete and delayed measures are stalling the recovery of the Baltic Sea,” said Mikhail Durkin, CCB Executive Secretary. “Governments must take coordinated and sustained efforts to fulfill their commitments under the BSAP, ensuring a healthy and resilient marine ecosystem for future generations.”


This publication not only identifies priority actions but also highlights the challenges and solutions associated with achieving BSAP targets. We urge all Baltic Sea Region countries to live up to their responsibility and immediately and effectively follow up on the commitments of the HELCOM BSAP.


For further details, or to access the publication, click here.

CCB is looking for a Network Officer to join our team at the CCB International Secretariat

By CCB • April 9, 2025
Coalition Clean Baltic – CCB is a politically independent network, uniting 27 environmental non-profit organizations, as well as partners and experts from 11 countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The main goal of CCB is to promote the protection and improvement of the environment and natural resources of the Baltic Sea region by encouraging new and constructive approaches and engaging people to become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. CCB Secretariat is based in Uppsala, Sweden.

Attacks on NGOs: 570+ Organisations Join Forces to Defend Civil Society

By CCB • April 7, 2025
European civil society organisations (CSOs) are currently facing an attack coming from certain Members of the European Parliament. Spearheaded by some MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and by far-right groups, this attack resorts to misleading arguments to fabricate a scandal. This portrayal has been amplified through the media, with notable exceptions of articles that attempted to clarify this misleading narrative. European CSOs are crucial to ensure the voices of citizens from different parts of Europe are heard in the EU institutions. Attacks against civil society are unfortunately not new and are exacerbated by this harmful idea. Furthermore, for-profit corporate lobbying is through the roof when compared to non-profit advocacy. In 2024, the 50 corporations with the largest lobbying budgets collectively spent nearly €200 million on lobbying the EU alone (66% more than in 2015). Comparing this to the funding environmental NGOs receive under the LIFE programme - €15.6 million annually of a €700 million yearly budget - truly shows the weakness of this ‘scandal’. This is why over 570 civil society organisations from 40 countries, including all EU Member States, have joined forces to call on those in power to act now and ensure that civil society is adequately funded and enabled to share our crucial perspectives . In this statement, we address: The source of this false narrative; Inaccurate claims made about how CSOs obtain and use funding; Why it’s paramount that CSOs receive sufficient funding; The need for civil dialogue to enable CSOs participation. Democracy is about the right of citizens to be collectively heard for building an inclusive society and a shared European future; properly funded independent CSOs are a crucial tool for that. We call on decision-makers to ensure civil society organisations can thrive and play their role in interacting with policy-makers in order to have a more fully informed decision-making process. Read the full statement here . -END Civil Society Europe (CSE) is the coordination of civil society organisations at EU level. Through its membership, CSE unites EU-level membership-based organisations that reach out to millions of people active in or supported by not-for-profits and civil society organisations across the EU. CSE was created by several civil society organisations as a follow-up to the European Year of Citizens and was established as an international not-for-profit under Belgian law in 2016. Since then, it has become the point of reference for EU institutions on transversal issues concerning civil dialogue and civic space.