Policy Area Hazards
PA Hazards prevents pollution and works towards reducing of use of hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea Region.
The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted areas in the world, which threatens the quality of life for inhabitants of all countries around it. Man-made chemicals and heavy metals enter the Baltic Sea via numerous sources, including from wastewater treatment plants, leaching from household materials, leaching from waste deposits, and atmospheric depositions from industrial plant emissions.
The Policy Area Hazards supports and promotes macro-regional responses to global challenges related to chemicals management, sound chemical management and a better linkage to international policy agendas (such as climate change, biodiversity, agriculture, production and consumption). The PA works for the prevention of pollution and the reduction of use of hazardous substances as well as for mitigation and remediation of historic pollution in the Baltic Sea environment.
PA Hazards is currently coordinated by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water management (SwAM).
Actions
PA Hazards’ actions concentrate on reducing the use and preventing emissions of hazardous substances by developing and implementing primarily non-regulatory measures and Baltic Sea Region-wide policies, as well as mitigating and remediating historic contamination still causing negative effect on the Baltic ecosystem.
Prevent pollution and reduce the use of hazardous substances.
Action 1 aims to develop and implement (non)-regulatory measures and Baltic Sea Region wide policies to reduce the use and prevent emissions of hazardous substances to the Baltic Sea environment.
The policy area supports the development of suitable measures, practical solutions and policy recommendations for reduction of hazardous substances, from both diffuse and point sources on land. The topic is linked to the HELCOM expert group on reduction of pressures from the Baltic catchments area (PRESSURE) and the HELCOM expert network on hazardous substances.
The Action mainly focuses on two issues:
- Human and veterinary pharmaceuticals: Through the Baltic Sea Region Pharma Platform, PA Hazards offers knowledge transfer and capacity building through: training courses and workshops; testing of solutions and practical measures through cooperation in projects and policy impact; through recommendations from lessons learnt in the cooperation processes to relevant policy makers and other stakeholders.
- Per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) To tackle the issue on a macro-regional level, we enable knowledge transfer from countries that have come further in the process of developing national actions, capacity building, development of harmonized policy approaches through cooperation in the regional platform PFASeOUT.
Mitigate new and remediate historic contamination.
Action 2 aspires to mitigate new and remediate historic contamination, causing negative effects in the Baltic ecosystem. The circular economy approach offers the possibility to develop measures and practical solutions to both getting rid of chemicals and other harmful pollution, recycling nutrients and other (raw) materials to be (re)used in production streams, as well as generating new data for better marine spatial planning to prevent and mitigate new sources of pollution.
Risks associated with acute pollution by oil and other harmful substances cannot be eliminated. New generation fuels and variety of chemicals transported require analysis of their behaviour in the marine environment, effectiveness of the the existing response means and methods, and further enhancement in preparedness and response.
Historic contamination with hazardous substances includes industrial emissions accumulated in soil and sediments, and hazardous substances in marine wrecks, as well as in items deliberately dumped to the Sea, such as munitions, which contribute to contamination of sediments in the Baltic Sea Region. They need to be dealt with depending on their category by tailor-made approaches based on precautionary principle and risk assessment for prioritisation. A macro-regional stakeholder platform will bring together different kinds of relevant stakeholders from different policy levels to jointly develop action plans, strategies, policy recommendations, ‘best & worst practice’ briefs and product cases. Innovative projects and initiatives addressing these issues are encouraged.
The topic is linked to the HELCOM expert group on environmental risks of hazardous submerged objects and the HELCOM expert network on hazardous substances.