Today, the Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most polluted seas, as a result of diverse drivers ranging from eutrophication to hazardous waste — a problem that affects not only the sea’s biodiversity, but also the health and livelihoods of the 90 million people who live on its shores.

In 2010, the President of Finland worked jointly with the Finnish Prime Minister and the Chair of the Baltic Sea Action Group to launch the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki on 10 February 2010. The littoral States and the European Union already engage in extensive cooperation in the region, and have concluded many agreements to regulate the use of the Baltic Sea — but implementation of the agreements has so far been insufficient. The aim of the Summit was thus to provide strong political leadership for improved implementation, bringing together companies, non-governmental organizations and governmental institutions.

At the Baltic Sea Action Summit, States, companies and non-governmental organizations presented their commitments to solve the problems of the Baltic Sea. Those commitments are now being actively monitored, on the basis of milestone information provided by each participant, and are publicly available.

Source: Government of Finland, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More information is available from http://www.bsas.fi/.