BALTIC SEA THREATENED ENVIRONMENT Trade, Pollution and Dumping Threaten Baltic Sea's Ecosystem
By LEYLA ALYANAK © Earth Times News Service LAIPEDA, Lithuania
Decades of dumping and overexploitation have transformed one of the world's most vulnerable bodies of water into one of its most polluted. The Baltic Sea, common to the 100 million people in 14 countries who live within its drainage area, is especially vulnerable to pollution because it is shallow and surrounded by land. Only a few narrow straits link it to the Atlantic Ocean, so its water regenerates with difficulty. According to the environmental group WWF, "The Baltic Sea has reached a highly critical level." Worst affected have been the sea's animals, whose natural habitat is undergoing a vast change and who are in danger of dying of inexplicable diseases.
The biggest culprits are, of course, people. They are responsible for the sewage, agricultural wastes, traffic pollution and industrial emissions that are irreparably damaging the fragile sea. "The Baltic's main problem is eutrophication," or excess buildup of dissolved nutrients in the water, said Antanas Koutautas, a hydrobiologist and Lithuania's representative for the Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB), a Baltic-wide network of environmental organizations. "Much of it is from nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from household waste or from farms," he added. Eutrophication depletes the oxygen in water and may lead to changes in aquatic environments, unsustainable fisheries and breakup of habitat. These days, the Baltic receives eight times as much phosphorus and four times as much nitrogen as it did at the turn of the century. There is no oxygen in 50 percent of the Baltic's bottom. "In order to restore the Baltic Sea to the nutrient status it had in the 1940s, the input of nutrients must be reduced by more than half," according to the Stockholm Marine Research Center. But there are many obstacles. On land, pollutants can travel great distances before being deposited in the Baltic Sea. Every year the Baltic receives tons of heavy metals and other poisonous substances from industries, towns, farms and traffic. It gets untreated waste from homes and pesticides that are dumped by farms. Many of these pesticides are banned in the West, but old Soviet stocks are still sold and used. On water, shipping has increased, especially the transport of oil to and from the eastern Baltic after the breakdown of land transport routes in the former Soviet Union.
Uncontrolled and rapidly growing tourism is seen as quick money in this undisturbed corner of northeastern Europe. Growing tourism means more discharges of untreated waste from ships ferrying more than 70 million passengers a year. The Western countries bordering the Baltic Sea may have sewage treatment plants, but most of the Eastern ones do not. In Lithuania 25 percent of wastewater is dumped into the Baltic Sea untreated.
Reports from Russia say that at the end of World War II huge quantities of chemical weapons-up to 300,000 tons-confiscated from the Nazis were packed onto ships that were sunk in the Baltic. The containers are rusting and have started to leak. These weapons range from mustard gas to Zyklon B, the deadly agent used by Nazis in concentration-camp gas chambers. According to one report by Russian scientists, traces of mustard gas have been found in the Baltic.
The Baltic is also facing threats from an unexpected quarter: Western environmentalists. "Years ago I was more optimistic, but now I feel economic development is very rapid in the East," said Kautatas. "Pressure from environmental organizations and politicians in Western countries is strong, so some dangerous industries are moving here instead," he added.
Pollution has taken a heavy toll on Baltic biodiversity. Sea birds die in oil slicks. Fish are unable to spawn in oxygen-depleted waters. Populations of ringed and gray seals are down from 100,000 at the turn of the century to just a few thousand today. Only a few hundred harbor seals are left. Not long ago, wild salmon filled the Baltic's waters. Today, only 7 percent of salmon is of wild origin and 93 percent is farmed, a dramatic fall in genetic diversity.
Toxic matter builds up in the food chain-big animals eat smaller ones and accumulate toxic substances in their bodies. Animals at the top of the chain-including humans-tend to be most affected. Yet plans continue for the construction of offshore oil exploration platforms in an area that has seen its share of oil spills. New oil terminals are planned for transit of Russian oil heading West. "There is pressure on society because this is good for the economy," Koutautas said. "But it is dangerous for nature and made worse by choppy seas, which increase the risk of spills." Between 1969 and 1990 there were some 40 oil spills larger than 100,000 tons in the Baltic Sea.
The Baltic Sea region has always been a battleground for space and commerce. The Hanseatic League, a medieval German trading group, dominated it well into the 15th Century, exporting herring, wood, tar, fur, grain, flax, hemp, iron and copper. As navigation and shipping improved, herring and fur animals were overexploited for the first time.
Throughout this century the Baltic Sea has faced environmental crises. The sea has suffered long stagnation periods, devoid of sudden inflows that helped refresh stagnant water. After the two world wars, manufacturing grew rapidly. In the 1960s, chlorinated pesticides, especially DDT and PCBs, killed off bird and seal populations and culminated in a ban on eating fish. Glasnost opened up the eastern Baltic and this had contrasting results. On the one hand, the new openness spread knowledge of environmental issues and helped conservation efforts, while on the other it revealed the dramatically high level of environmental degradation.
The Baltic Sea's unusual characteristics make it especially sensitive to man-made disturbances. Just 10,000 years ago the Baltic Sea was an ice lake. It became a sea only when a passage opened through Denmark. It can take 30 years for the Baltic's water to be renewed since the points of entry for new water are so few and so narrow. The Baltic Sea is shallow, a brackish mixture of salt and fresh water which makes it a difficult home for plants and animals. Oceans have 3.5 percent salinity or salt content, while the Baltic in some parts has only 0.2 percent. A Baltic Sea Action Plan has been developed and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) throughout the region are working hard to fight against pollution. But mobilizing action remains a challenge. NGOs are not strong in this part of the world, although environmental awareness is growing.
Social and economic problems resulting from the transition period still tend to monopolize people's attention. Though anti-pollution policies are being strengthened, some scientists say far more drastic action is needed, including a ban on all toxic substances, an end to particularly noxious industries, an overall decrease in traffic and agricultural emissions, and the building of more sewage treatment plants.
Much cooperation has already gone into cleanup work. "Baltic 21," an Agenda 21 based action program for the Baltic Sea in the 21st Century, was adopted at the 1998 ministers' meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, which includes coastal countries and the EU. Its mandate is to achieve sustainable development for the Baltic at the economic, social and environmental levels. Many national efforts, both governmental and nongovernmental, are also afoot to try to save the Baltic, and while some areas are showing improvement, concerted action by 14 different governments with their own priorities is not easy. The Baltic Sea may not be dying, but it is in serious trouble. In places as sensitive and isolated as this, time is telescoped. And once damage is done, there may not be a second chance. Copyright © 1999 The Earth Times All rights reserved.
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