21.06.2022 | News
The approved projects from the latest call for proposals support the implementation of the updated Baltic Sea Action Plan, aiming for a healthy Baltic Sea by 2030.
In the latest call for proposals for the Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund (the BSAP Fund) at the end of 2021, a total of 27 applications from seven different countries were submitted. After evaluation, nine projects from Estonia, Finland and Sweden were approved with grants ranging from EUR 30,000 to EUR 200,000. The total funding from the BSAP Fund amounts to EUR 1.08 million and will be directed to projects that support a healthy Baltic Sea environment and thereby implementation of the updated Baltic Sea Action Plan.
Co-managed by Nefco, the Nordic Green Bank and Nordic Investment Bank, the Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund provides support for actions and measures that will help improve the environmental status of the Baltic Sea. The Fund facilitates and speeds up the preparation of bankable projects from both public and private entities. “The Baltic Sea is still under high environmental pressure, and we are happy to see a high interest in the Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund. The approved projects, focusing on, for example, wastewater treatment, sea-bed activities, hazardous substances and recycling of nutrients, will have both direct and indirect impacts on the Baltic Sea. We are looking forwards to starting work on these new projects,” says Dennis Hamro-Drotz, Senior Programme Manager, Nefco.
A list of projects under implementation will be made available on the BSAP Fund’s homepage once the projects have been signed.
Concrete measures for a healthy Baltic Sea
The BSAP Fund was set up in 2010 to speed up the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, for the purpose of helping fund concrete projects, regardless of national borders, initialising promising solutions that can be scaled up. Originally adopted by the HELCOM member countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden) in 2007 to restore the ecological status of the Baltic marine environment, the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) was updated in October 2021. The updated plan integrates concrete actions and measures in emerging areas, such as climate change, marine litter, pharmaceuticals, underwater noise and seabed disturbance, with the goal to improve the health of the Baltic Sea by 2030.
“The updated Baltic Sea Action Plan is an essential roadmap for improving the ecological state of our sea during this decade,” says Rüdiger Strempel, Executive Secretary of HELCOM. “Despite significant progress in the past decades, the Baltic Sea is still struggling under the impact of human-induced pressures. With the update, we can target new and old challenges more efficiently and better re-align them with international and regional ecological objectives. The BSAP update is an excellent example of what can be achieved by regional and cross-sectoral cooperation in the Baltic Sea area.”
Since the adoption of BSAP and the efforts made in the catchment area, the Baltic Sea has experienced substantial environmental improvement with a better state of biodiversity and a decrease in maritime incidents and spills.
The BSAP Fund, with current pledge funding from Sweden and Finland of EUR 14.6 million, had supported the completion of 41 projects at the end of 2021, with a disbursed amount of EUR 11.3 million. In addition to the nine projects recently approved, fifteen others are currently ongoing.
Every year, the BSAP Fund opens a call for proposals for projects that address the actions highlighted in the updated BSAP. Projects must fulfil the eligibility criteria and have a clear focus to benefit the ecological state of the Baltic Sea. The next call for applications will be announced in autumn 2022.
For further information, please contact:
Dennis Hamro-Drotz, Senior Programme Manager, Nefco
dennis.hamro-drotz@nefco.int, (+358) 010 6180 641
About the Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund
The Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund (the BSAP Fund) was set up in 2010 to help speed up the implementation of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. The key purpose of the BSAP Fund is to facilitate and speed up the preparation of bankable projects from both public and private entities. To date, these grants have accelerated investments by up to two years, speeding up the implementation of the projects and their environmental benefits for the Baltic Sea. Since the establishment of the BSAP Fund, 41 projects with demonstrable effects have been completed.
For more information on the Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund, please visit www.nefco.int/bsap.
