The King of Sweden was one of the several Baltic leaders to attend the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki Wednesday. A long time advocate for the environment, King Carl XVI Gustaf was a likely representative of Sweden there.
Juhani Niiranen / www.hs.fi
The summit focuses on saving the Baltic Sea itself. The sea is considered to be one of the most polluted spots in the world, and organizers of this summit said a range of companies, foundations and individuals have already made more than 130 promises of action to save the Baltic.
“We don’t expect any miracles, but serious work by all of us which may make a miracle,” said Finland’s President Tarja Halonen, who co-hosted the summit with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen.
“Today, some of the richest and most environmentally conscious countries on Earth live on the shores of one of the world’s most polluted seas,” Halonen said. “Isn’t it a tragedy?”
Speaking to the summit, King Carl XVI Gustaf said the sea was a “precious resource” which countries “have to care of, and manage in the best possible way.”
“The Baltic Sea is in a very bad stage. We can read about it in the newspapers nearly every week,” he said. “Oil spills, uncontrolled coastal development, and pollution are just a few examples.”
Besides oil spills and pollution, the Baltic also suffers from the many World War II ships that are rotting away at the sea’s bottom. Furthermore, there’s eutrophication — the overconcentration of nutrients caused by sewage and agricultural run-off carrying fertilizers into the Baltic. The sea is so badly polluted, Greenpeace urges pregnant women not to eat its fish. But that’s also another problem: the Baltic is experiencing overfishing.
Tomorrow, the leaders and representatives of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Estonia will work on their commitments on the troubled sea they all rely on.
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