BSAG to lead EU’s ”Saving the Baltic Sea waters” cluster

”The aim of the cluster is to make sure that the outcomes of all nine projects related to Baltic Sea come in practical use” , says Paula Biveson, BSAG, the coordinator of the new founded cluster. “We also want to intensify the exchange of the experiences and ideas and further develop the co-operation among the projects through cluster partner workshops. The projects have different approach but the same objective, saving the Baltic Sea Waters. Our task in the cluster is now to try to make 1 +1 equal 3,” says Biveson. Clustering projects is a totally new process within the BSRP.

The cluster project concentrates on agri-environmental challenges, hazardous substances in water and sediments, waste water treatment and implementation of river basin management plants. The overall theme of the discussions will be divided to two parallel lines, both essential for the wellbeing of the Baltic Sea. The first line is reducing nutrient pollution, specifically phosphorus and nitrogen, and the other line concentrates on environmentally sound management of hazardous substances.

“Enhancing the use of the outcomes of this kind of EU projects and squeezing them to benefit the Baltic Sea to the maximum is a reason for BSAG to take a lead of the cluster”, says Mathias Bergman, the secretary general of BSAG.

Three of the agri-environmental projects have already joined forces and will organize together with WWF an agri-environmental conference that gathers together 250 decision-makers from both sectors and from the whole Baltic Sea Region. The conference “A Greener Agriculture for a Bluer Baltic Sea” will be held in Copenhagen, 24th-25th of October.

Baltic Impulse runs from September 2012 to September 2013. The cluster is coordinated by BSAG and the steering committee consists of the Finnish Environmental Institute, HELCOM and Århus University.

More information:

Paula Hemminki Biveson, Cluster coordinator, BSAG

Tel: +46 730 801088

Email: paula.biveson@bsag.fi

www.bsag.fi​