Estonia Promises to Save the Baltic Sea. With a Law.

During the Baltic Sea state summit that took place in Helsinki, the Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and the Minister of Environment Jaanus Tamkivi confirmed the Estonian intention to compile a sea environment protection law to preserve the Baltic Sea.

The country is concerned about the status of the Baltic Sea and both Ansip and Tamkivi stressed in their speeches the importance of keeping it free of contamination.

“The environment ministry will start working on several standards and sea environment protection measures. We have decided to compile also a sea environment protection law”, said Tamkivi.

PM Ansip, instead, stated that “this is a highest priority for us considering that, if compared to our total territory and population, our coastline is long and the sea area is too big,” to keep not caring about it.

The law, which will be complied by 2012 and would come in force in 2014, will seek to regulate various aspects as pollution, international cooperation, usage of sea areas and scientific marine research.

Nearly 140 companies and institutions belonging to the Baltic Sea area have promised to commit themselves on the improvement of the Baltic Sea and, among the ones involved, we can find four Estonian ones as Eesti Energia, Reval Hotels, Tallink and BLRT Grupp.

Just Words

It was April 2008 when Tarja Kaarina Halonen, President of Finland, warned about the ecological risk of the Baltic Sea – one of the most polluted seas in the world but now two years have passed since this alert was done and it seems that politicians continue showing their concern just in theory, with no immediate actions are carried out.

Problem being that, while politicians ramble in their offices, the Baltic Sea continues suffering the devastating consequences of the acts of men.