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The President of the Republic at the International Symposium The Baltic Sea: Common Heritage, Shared Responsibility in Tallinn on 4 June 200304.06.2003
Your Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch!
Honorable Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen!
I am very pleased that the Baltic Sea symposium, which is patronised by His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, is taking place.
Here, on board of this ship, different nations and states are represented, some of them are our nearest neighbours, and the others are at the distance of several days' journey. We may differ by culture, language or personality but we all are associated through the soil we live on, the air we breathe and the water resource, which is our source of life, if you allow me to speak figuratively.
In view of the future of the mankind, our political debates and our efforts to guarantee peace and security do not have any value if we let the environment around us to perish.
The topic of today's plenary session is Environment and Globalisation, and I am very pleased that this topic is discussed here at the port of Tallinn.
During the last ten years Estonia has managed to make itself more noticed on the world map, development of our technology has been relatively rapid. It is rather symbolic that here, at the port of a medieval Hansa town, we talk about the need to direct our efforts toward the protection of environment and sustainable development in order to avoid the situation in which we saw the branch on which we are sitting.
The Baltic Sea (for Estonians the Western Sea and for people who live to the west from here and for Finns the Eastern Sea) has throughout history joined the people living in the northern part of Europe. The water regime of the Baltic Sea is based on the water exchange with the ocean through the Danish Straits. The annual estimated input of fresh-water from rivers is about a half a million cubic kilometres, the Neva River being responsible for about one fifth of that.
Since the last Ice Age the natural history of the Baltic Sea has been varied, including the stages of the Yoldia Sea, when the sea was fully open to the ocean and Ancylus Lake, when there was no connection with the ocean. Since the time the Estonians reached the coast of the Baltic Sea, the sea has stayed within its current boundaries. Due to narrow straits, the refreshment of water in the Baltic Sea takes tens of years; therefore our sea is very sensitive to the impact of natural changes and human activities.
The Baltic Sea serves also as a mirror of climate changes. It is beautiful spring now but we still remember last winter when the Estonian shipping had to struggle with difficult ice conditions. In a longer timeframe the last winter was not extraordinary, but in preceding mild winters we quite forgot about the probability of winters with plenty of ice. Last year also summer happened to be exceptional. The mass media was sending out warnings: "Dangerous Blue-Green Algae, Do Not Swim!" Although one of the reasons for excessive growth of the algae was warm summer with little wind, nevertheless we are exposed to another facet in the behaviour of the Baltic Sea: in the past century the impact of the anthropological activities has increased considerably. This makes us to ask whether we can always adequately foresee the consequences of our activity and propose right solutions.
The biggest environmental threats for the Baltic Sea as we see them today can be divided into three categories.
Firstly: eutrophication. Those times are past when phosphate and nitrogen fertilizes were used in unreasonably big quantities and they were even spread from airplanes. A lot of nutrients drained into the sea in untreated or inadequately treated wastewater. In last ten years big wastewater treatment facilities have been launched in Tallinn, Haapsalu, Paide and Pärnu. Research by our scientists shows that all those measures have decreased significantly the pollution load caused by organic substances and phosphoric compounds and the quality of coastal waters has improved.
We are still concerned about excessive pollution brought along by nitrogen compounds, as in Estonian coastal waters nitrogen is the nutrient that causes the excessive growth of water plants. In Estonia pollution originating from agriculture has decreased considerably as a result of shrinking production volumes, also the use of fertilizers is more environmentally friendly and quantities used are smaller. However, we have to admit that pollution reduction does not show immediate effect on the open seas and seawater is still less transparent than it was 50 years ago.
Secondly: discharge of dangerous and extraneous substances to the sea. The use of DDT, mercury and many pesticides has been forbidden already a long time ago. The concentration of those substances is continually decreasing, but as the sea is relatively closed that process is slow. However, neither cases of poisoning of seals and birds nor their malformation have been observed recently. The biggest problem for Estonia is chemical industry in North-East of Estonia - the source of such pollutants as phenols, hydrocarbons and others. Due to continuous growth of maritime transport also the danger of oil and heavy oil pollution remains high. In some places in the Baltic Sea the content of dioxins in fish exceeds the level safe for human beings. The recent studies of Estonian fish prove that dioxins level is contained within the limit.
Among major achievements, important not only for us but also to all nations living around the Baltic Sea, is the completion of the first phase of the Sillamäe Radioactive Tailing Pond Remediation Project. The EU Phare programme provided grant financing for Phase One in the amount of 5 million euro. The total cost of the remediation project is approximately 20 million euro, i.e. about 312 million kroons. Apart from the Phare programme the Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation (NEFCO), Governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland have promised additional financing. This is the biggest environmental redevelopment project in Estonia and makes it possible to render Sillamäe radioactive tailing pond safe, the area of which covers about 50 ha. The works should be finished by 2006. When this project is completed, Sillamäe waste depository will be the first uranium site in Central and Eastern Europe, which has been turned environmentally friendly and taken care of. The waste management system of the new Sillamäe plant is also directly associated with the cleanness of the Baltic Sea. It will substantially reduce the amount of pollutants discharged from the plant such as nitrogen compounds, sulphates but also solid wastes
Chemical weapons dumped into the sea after the end of World War II endanger the future of the Baltic Sea. In the years 1945-1947 according to some data 302,875 tons of chemical weapons were dumped into the sea, which means an estimated 60,000 tons of toxic agents and existence of 14 different kinds of chemicals. Recently, attending the international conference "Strengthening of the Cooperation between the Baltic Sea Ports" which was held in Tallinn, I turned the attention of the participants to this very serious problem. My firm stand is that we have to combine our forces and with concerted efforts to devise a detailed programme for neutralisation of this source of danger. This is our responsibility to the future generations.
Thirdly: damage to the balance of natural communities. The salinity of Estonian coastal waters is low and marine fish species exist together with freshwater species and many of those species are targets of commercial and recreational fishing. During the last ten years substantial changes have occurred in the fishery resources of the Estonian coastal sea. One of the reasons is excessive fishing.
At the beginning of 1990s, the fishing in Estonia became more intensive as export markets opened up and the wholesale price of fish was high compared to the modest living standard. Also the number of people engaged in fishing expanded, as the inhabitants of coastal villages got a chance to fish, which had been impossible earlier due to strict boarder zone restrictions. Currently the main problem in Estonian fishery (same as in most countries) is excessive fishing load.
The change in the composition of the fish community can be attributed also to very warm summers in recent years, which have facilitated the increase in number of thermophilous species like carps. There is a noticeable conflict between the interests of fishermen and fish eating cormorants, as their population in Estonian coastal waters increases rapidly, and seals, the number of which in Estonian waters is high in comparison with the rest of the Baltic Sea. In the Väinameri, for example, the cormorants eat as much or even more fish than people can catch.
In Estonia, major attention is paid to the restoration of fishery resources. For example, the state finances the activity of the Põlula Fishfarming, where smolts are reared to be released into rivers in order to enhance the natural population. Within the drainage area of the Gulf of Finland, there are about ten rivers where salmon spawns naturally, unfortunately on the northern coast of the Gulf the natural populations of salmon have disappeared.
Similarly to the situation elsewhere in the Baltic Sea, the number of alien species is increasing in Estonian waters. The impact of the alien species on native communities is continuously monitored. Probably due to cooler climate, the impact of the alien species - mostly originating from more southern areas - on the native communities is rather modest in comparison with the situation in some other parts of the Baltic Sea.
Lately an ecosystemic approach vis-ą-vis assessment and forecasting of fishery resources has been developed, i.e. previous models based on one species have been replaced by more advanced ones, which take into account the food chain within the fish communities and also changes in abiotic environment. The Estonian scientists are also moving in the same direction. The introduction of an ecosystem-based approach in Estonia will benefit from the fact that the assessment and forecasting of fishery resources is as of 2003 included into the National Environmental Monitoring Programme.
For conclusion: The Baltic Sea is our common heritage and shared responsibility. The sea has tempered our coastal people, has taught them to confront dangers, and has helped to preserve their juicy sense of humour. A proof of the latter is a novel written by Albert Uustulnd, a well-known author from Saaremaa, "A Playground for the Winds", in which a boy from a coastal village, while travelling on faraway seas, wrote to his parents that in Africa the water behind the board of their ship was so hot that men cooked potatoes in the sea.
The maritime traffic is no doubt a very significant branch of economy for Estonia. Several new ports are going to be built and existing ones will be enlarged. For enlargement projects and operation of the Port of Muuga, which has the biggest cargo turnover in Estonia, but also the Port of Pärnu and some other ports, our scientists have conducted numerous studies in order to find ways to prevent or mitigate adverse environmental impacts. The findings of long-term monitoring have shown that it is possible to develop a port in such a way that benthos near the port will survive, spawning areas will be preserved and the quality of the seawater will be within norms.
In the Bay of Tallinn the traffic of high-speed vessels is very busy. It takes less than an hour and a half to cover the distance of 80 km between Tallinn and Helsinki. High speed of vessels cause waves that differ from those caused by ordinary ships. The question is whether the waves caused by high-speed boats harm the health of the bay. The scientists are busy finding an answer to this question. Here we should also apply the principle that the nature has to be preserved for the next generations.
I have touched upon only some of the most essential aspects vis-ą-vis the Baltic Sea. To all participants of this forum I wish fruitful discussions. In brief, all this will help us to protect our common asset - the Baltic Sea.
Thank you for your attention.
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