Baltic Sea Environmental Co-operation : a Swedish Perspective on Agricultural Discharge Issues within HELCOM and Baltic 21

Abstract: Co-operation between states is a necessity to be able to handle environmental issues in the Baltic Sea area, since these are transboundary problems. Two organisations that deal with environmental issues in this region are HELCOM and Baltic 21. The aim has been to study how the problem of pollution from diffuse land-based sources, especially agriculture, has been dealt with through these organisations, to look upon the roles of and the relationship between HELCOM and Baltic 21 and to study the possibilities and the difficulties in the practical co-operation. The study holds a Swedish perspective, as Swedish representatives with connections to the HELCOM and Baltic 21 processes have been interviewed. The analysis shows that the EU is becoming increasingly important as an actor in the Baltic Sea co-operation, which makes the future roles of HELCOM and Baltic 21 uncertain. Concerning the difficulties of the work, aspects mentioned were cultural differences, group problems and lack of resources. To improve the work some proposals made by the interviewees were to use the experiences from different projects and to increase the resources.