Baltic Sea - Good Agricultural Practicein the new EU Member countries and theNorth-Western Region of the Russian Federation

Protecting the Baltic Sea from environmental impact remains important even 30 years after foundation of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM). Every year some one billion kilograms of nitrogen and roughly 40 million kilograms of phosphorous are still being discharged into the Baltic Sea, of which more than half stems from agriculture. The high phosphate and nitrogen inputs largely owe to the intensive animal husbandry concentrated around the sea in littoral states. The consequences are algae growth, oxygen shortage, and high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide that jeopardize the biological diversity of the marine environment.