The HELCOM system of a vision, strategic goals and ecological objectives:: implementing an ecosystem approach to the management of human activities in the Baltic Sea

1. Since signing the Helsinki Convention in 1974, the countries with coasts around the Baltic Sea have striven jointly within the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) towards the ecological restoration of the Baltic Sea. The European Community signed the revised Convention in 1992. 2. Work under HELCOM includes implementing joint recommendations to curb pollution originating from land and marine sources, ensuring safer maritime traffic, and protecting biodiversity, for example. by setting up a network of Baltic Sea protected areas. 3. A new concept - the ecosystem approach to the management of human activities - was adopted by the Contracting Parties of HELCOM in 2003 to serve as the new framework for further efforts towards attaining good ecological status of the Baltic Sea. 4. Stepwise progress towards the development of quantitative definitions of good ecological status has been made since 2003 to implement the new approach: a common vision reflecting the ecosystem approach was adopted in 2004 and a number of more targeted goals and objectives were agreed in 2006. 5. The Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention will use the objectives adopted covering eutrophication, impacts of hazardous substances, and the overall status of biodiversity, including the impact of fisheries and shipping, to draft a new set of joint management actions. 6. In the future, an agreement under development among theo Contracting Parties on indicators with quantitative targets will enable a quantitative assessment of 'good ecological status' and progress towards the goals of HELCOM, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well European legislation concerning marine environmental protection. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.