Cross-Border Risks in the Baltic Sea Region: Lessons to ... - Helsinki.fi

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ty of identifying ships and oil spills. For
instance, satellite pictures and the monitoring
by aircraft and ship have improved the control
of the traffic. Disadvantages include the
increased traffic, the old ships still used, and
insufficient harbours routines. And the threat of
terrorism has to be always taken into account.
Well aware of the fact that risks for these
kinds of accidents are a common problem for
all the countries in the Baltic Sea Region
(BSR), it was considered necessary to develop
close cross-border cooperation. The longterm
objective has been to create a common
understanding, an agreement on common
tactics, and to introduce similar techniques.
The aim has been to make it possible for rescue
personnel to work together using common
or each other's resources. The effective
common use of available resources should
increase the level of preparedness for mitigating
environmental damage in the BSR. In
addition, cooperation between the rescue
services of neighbouring countries will
increase the ability to deal with these kinds of
accidents at the earliest possible time, preferably
before the pollution reaches the coasts.
The initial ideas behind cross-border rescue
cooperation were mainly based on the
experiences gathered from the cooperation
between the Nordic Rescue Services. Later,
more information was gotten from the close
collaboration between the Nordic Countries
and the Baltic Sea States.
One of the first major joint oil spill exercises
in the BSR was "BERE", which was carried
out in 1996 in Ventspils, Latvia, starting
with an analysis of the risks and available rescue
resources. Since then such activities
have been conducted in the big ports of
Estonia (Tallinn, the islands and the west
coast), Lithuania (Klaipeda and Kaunas) and
the North-West Region of Russia (Kaliningrad
and St. Petersburg). In 2001, specialists representing
these places and their central
administrations, gathered on the island of
Tärnö, Karlskrona, Sweden for a workshop.
The purpose of this workshop was to summarise
the specialists' experiences, check the
present situation and list future needs for joint
actions. The participants stated that it was
necessary to connect all the Baltic Sea
States' rescue services in order to fulfil the
main objective of increased understanding
and the effective use of common resources.
Finland, Denmark, Poland and Germany were
not involved at that time. Other needs that
were identified during the workshop were joint
training courses, joint exercises and joint
research and development projects. Annual
meetings were proposed in order to plan activities.
Also the importance of keeping the activities
on an operational level was emphasised.
2. Definition of Cross-Border
Risks
Cross-border risks are familiar as a concept
but their content is less known. They can
be defined as potential civic and systemic
risks that affect several countries by creating
potential or actual losses on both sides of governmental
borders. They are caused by interactions
between four major systems: the physical
environment, where the hazardous events
take place; the social and demographic characteristics
of the communities that experience
them; the buildings, roads, bridges and other
components of the constructed environment;
and the political environment, which is expected
to tackle and prevent the risks.
The growing amount of cross-border risks
result partly from the fact that the nations' capital
stock is expanding. They also stem from
the fact that all these systems - and their interactions
- are becoming more complex with
each passing year. 6 According to Dennis S.
Mileti, three main processes affect the development
of cross-border risks. Firstly, continuous
global warming is expected to generate
ongoing hazardous events, such as natural
disasters (storms, floods and drought).
Secondly, changes in the demographic composition
in the Baltic Sea Region and the
increasing movement of people that augments
the hazardous exposure potential.
Further, the unequal distribution of wealth
makes some parts of the society particularly
vulnerable, as they are obliged to live in hazardous
regions, such as flood prone areas,
industrial zones or near heavy traffic routes.
Thirdly, the planning of infrastructure and the
built environment is often mainly based on
economic incentives, such as tourism. When
community planning is business-driven and
lacking proper risk assessment and mapping,
the results might be unexpected.
Preparedness involves building an emergency
response and management capability
before a disaster occurs in order to facilitate
an effective response when needed. This
6
Mileti, Dennis; Disasters by Design, A Reassessment of Natural Hazards in the United States, National Academy of
Sciences, 1999, 3.