23/03/2006 - Helsinki,
Finland – WWF and the Baltic Fund for Nature (BFN)
have launched a new environmental atlas of the Gulf
of Finland, providing a comprehensive overview of
the current state of the gulf's natural ecosystems,
protected areas and rare species. It also identifies
the overall threats and their potential impact to
this biologically and economically important region.
The atlas, which includes over
50 maps, covers information about sensitive and
endangered areas, as well as important fish, seal
and bird species.
“This publication fills an important
gap in the biological information available today
and will thereby help spearhead the protection of
high conservation values of the Baltic Sea,"
said Lasse Gustavsson, Director of WWF’s Baltic
Ecoregion Programme.
"We believe it will prove
to be an effective tool for prioritizing the efforts
of NGOs, research institutions and relevant authorities
in combating major environmental problems in the
eastern Baltic.”
This atlas is a significant advance
for Russia and the Gulf of Finland region as many
European Union countries have yet to pull together
such comprehensive inventories of biological values
and potential impacts for key areas. It provides
vital information that is urgently needed in this
region of rapid growth, which is subject to increasing
pressures on the natural environment.
“Baltic Sea is one ecosystem...and
in order to develop effective solutions to our ecosystem
challenges, decision makers need to have access
to good, solid, scientific information," said
BFN Director Rustam Sagitov.
"The Gulf of Finland environmental
atlas provides this important biological information
in an accessible format upon which sound decisions
can more easily be based.”
The Russian version of the atlas
was released today. The English version will be
available later in the spring.
END NOTES:
• The Baltic Fund of Nature (BFN)
of the St Petersburg Society of Naturalists was
created in 1995 to facilitate the development of
scientific projects, educational and informational
programmes on nature protection in the Baltic regions
of the Russian Federation.
• WWF’s Baltic Ecoregion Programme
aims to conserve, and where necessary restore, the
full range of biodiversity of the Baltic Sea region.
This includes the development of integrated land,
coastal and marine activities to strengthen the
local and regional capacity to achieve sustainable
ecosystem-based management of the Baltic Sea's resources.
The following organizations are lead partners within
the Baltic Ecoregion Programme: Baltic Fund for
Nature, WWF-Denmark, Estonian Fund for Nature, WWF-Finland,
WWF-Germany, Lithuanian Fund for Nature, Pasaules
Dabas Fonds, WWF-Poland, WWF-Russia and WWF-Sweden.
