BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

HELCOM SEMINAR FOR EXPERTS FROM ESTONIA, LATVIA, LITHUANIA
AND RUSSIA ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HELCOM ARRANGEMENTS,
OTHER INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS AND RELATED MATTERS
Riga, Latvia 30 August - 3 September 1993
Introduction to the work of TC and its subsidiary bodies,
Technological Committee in general
Dr. Tapani Kohonen
Chairman of the Technological Committee
Counsellor for International Affairs
Ministry of the Environment, Finland
History
As has been stated in the Helsinki Convention 1974 in Article 3 “Fundamen-
tal principles and obligations” the Contracting Parties shall individually or
jointly take all appropriate . . . measures in order to prevent and abate pollu-
tion and to protect and enhance the marine environment of the Baltic Sea.
Therefore the early activities of the Commission included monitoring of the
state of the Convention Area. This procedure was in line with the principle
of the 80’s “to recognize first the problem and then try to find a solution”.
The subsidiary bodies, first the Scientific-Technological Working Group
(STWG) and then the Scientific-Technological Committee (STC) considered
both the sources of land-based pollution and effects on the state of the Baltic
Sea.
Due to the increased activity in the scientific sector for monitoring and
assessment activities and on the other hand in the preparations of recommen-
dations on the reduction of pollution and of evaluation of the pollution loads,
the Commission decided during its 1 lth meeting in 1990 to divide the Scien-
tific-Technological Committee into the Environment and Technological
Committees.
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