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The Baltic Sea is a shared and valuable resource of our region, and protecting it has been on the agenda of many organizations. Particularly, in the IWAMA project we cooperate with the Baltic Sea Challenge initiative that promotes the need to make the Baltic Sea cleaner and more productive. To strengthen and expand its network, the initiative inspires members to commit to an action aiding a better state of the Baltic Sea. The partners of IWAMA represent water experts in the Baltic Sea Region, and they have successfully joined this challenge.

One of the first IWAMA stakeholders that has managed to finalize their commitment is the Environmental Centre “ECAT-Kaliningrad”, and it shares their story to inspire others.

 

Environmental seminar

Already during autumn 2016, the organization “ECAT-Kaliningrad” conducted an event on dissemination of information. The seminar on reducing the negative impact in the Baltic Sea basin was organized along the programme of the annual Russian-German Environmental Days, which allowed attracting a wider range of international guests and panelists from national and regional authorities, research institutions and NGOs.

During the seminar, participants discussed current challenges the region is facing, and compliance with the HELCOM Action Plan for the Baltic Sea. Among other topics, attention was given to the issue of reducing eutrophication through the discharge of sewage and industrial farming.

The chosen format allowed Russian and German specialists to share the information on a range of different activities including research and monitoring in the field of environmental protection, discuss experiences, lessons learned and good practices in order to join the efforts towards the better state of Baltic Sea. One of the important outcomes of the seminar was the development of recommendations to improve the process of information delivery.

This year, the Russian-German Environmental Days are held on 25 October, the event will reflect on 2017 as the Year of Ecology in Russia.