Protection of the Baltic Sea: the role of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission
Lääne, A.
Ambio 30(4-5): 260-262
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0044-7447 PMID: 11697259 DOI: 10.1579/0044-7447-30.4.260Document Number: 244922
The development and implementation of technological applications seeking to protect the Baltic Sea and coastal waters from pollution are reviewed. In the early 20th century, investigations of the self-purification capacity of water-bodies and wastewater treatment possibilities were begun, with considerable water-protection changes having taken place after World War II. The construction of municipal and industrial wastewater-treatment facilities was mainly driven by the Helsinki Commission, particularly developing and implementing new water-protection technologies. Another contributing factor was the inclusion of the concept of the Best Available Practice and Best Environmental Technology in the 1992 Helsinki Convention text, which greatly altered the approach to environmental protection in the Baltic Sea states.