153
7.3 Evolving Environmental Governance
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, regional collaboration was more or less
restricted to governmental discussions within the framework of the Helsinki
Commission (HELCOM) and scientifi c collaboration at expert levels. The cold war
placed strict limits on what was politically possible to achieve. According to some
observers, HELCOM was primarily a means for the Soviet Union to fi nd a relatively neutral ground for airing declarations mainly targeted at US audiences (Hjorth
1992 ). However, the early role of HELCOM as a fi rst institutionalisation of regional
collaboration for the protection of the Baltic Sea environment should not be underestimated (Hassler 2003b ). During HELCOM’s fi rst two decades of existence,
important scientifi c contacts were developed especially between researchers from
Nordic countries and the Soviet Union. These Baltic Sea networks were important
building blocks and resulted in several recommendations made by the still rudimentary, epistemic communities on concrete measure that could be taken with regard to
ecological threats to the Baltic Sea environment.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the declaration of independence of
Baltic states and the democratisation of Poland in the early 1990s, four overarching
changes affecting Baltic Sea environmental governance took place in the following
two decades.
First, the liberation of the Baltic states and democratisation of Poland sparked off
extensive bilateral support programmes from primarily Sweden , Finland and
Denmark (Hassler 2003a ). These programmes often involved governmental actors,
such as municipalities and county boards, as well as non-governmental actors, for
example, CECAMS (Centre for Environmental Science and Management) and
Environmental Consultancy and Monitoring Centre, both from Latvia .
2 In order to
establish collaborative schemes, twinning agreements were made between donor
and recipient countries (Hassler et al. 2011 ). In these agreements, a public authority
or private company in the donor country collaborated with a counterpart in the
recipient country in order to stimulate transfer of knowledge and know-how (Hassler
et al. 2011 ). Financing was typically secured through government funds or international fi nancial institutions such as NEFCO (Nordic Environment Finance
Corporation), EBRD (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
and IBRD (the World Bank). In addition to these collaborative schemes, transnational initiatives were taken, such as collaboration among political parties, labour
unions, NGOs and sector organisations. For example, political parties in Sweden
and Finland collaborated with sister organisations in the Baltic states, and labour
unions similarly had projects targeting areas such as gender equality and workplace
democracy. Typically, these undertakings were partly fi nanced by public sources
(Hassler 2003a ). Taken together, these new forms of interaction all contributed to
2 CECAMS and the Environmental Consultancy and Monitoring Centre were both later on transformed into Latvian public agencies (Hassler 2003b ).
7 The Ecosystem Approach to Management in Baltic Sea Governance: Towards…
7.3 Evolving Environmental Governance
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, regional collaboration was more or less
restricted to governmental discussions within the framework of the Helsinki
Commission (HELCOM) and scientifi c collaboration at expert levels. The cold war
placed strict limits on what was politically possible to achieve. According to some
observers, HELCOM was primarily a means for the Soviet Union to fi nd a relatively neutral ground for airing declarations mainly targeted at US audiences (Hjorth
1992 ). However, the early role of HELCOM as a fi rst institutionalisation of regional
collaboration for the protection of the Baltic Sea environment should not be underestimated (Hassler 2003b ). During HELCOM’s fi rst two decades of existence,
important scientifi c contacts were developed especially between researchers from
Nordic countries and the Soviet Union. These Baltic Sea networks were important
building blocks and resulted in several recommendations made by the still rudimentary, epistemic communities on concrete measure that could be taken with regard to
ecological threats to the Baltic Sea environment.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the declaration of independence of
Baltic states and the democratisation of Poland in the early 1990s, four overarching
changes affecting Baltic Sea environmental governance took place in the following
two decades.
First, the liberation of the Baltic states and democratisation of Poland sparked off
extensive bilateral support programmes from primarily Sweden , Finland and
Denmark (Hassler 2003a ). These programmes often involved governmental actors,
such as municipalities and county boards, as well as non-governmental actors, for
example, CECAMS (Centre for Environmental Science and Management) and
Environmental Consultancy and Monitoring Centre, both from Latvia .
2 In order to
establish collaborative schemes, twinning agreements were made between donor
and recipient countries (Hassler et al. 2011 ). In these agreements, a public authority
or private company in the donor country collaborated with a counterpart in the
recipient country in order to stimulate transfer of knowledge and know-how (Hassler
et al. 2011 ). Financing was typically secured through government funds or international fi nancial institutions such as NEFCO (Nordic Environment Finance
Corporation), EBRD (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
and IBRD (the World Bank). In addition to these collaborative schemes, transnational initiatives were taken, such as collaboration among political parties, labour
unions, NGOs and sector organisations. For example, political parties in Sweden
and Finland collaborated with sister organisations in the Baltic states, and labour
unions similarly had projects targeting areas such as gender equality and workplace
democracy. Typically, these undertakings were partly fi nanced by public sources
(Hassler 2003a ). Taken together, these new forms of interaction all contributed to
2 CECAMS and the Environmental Consultancy and Monitoring Centre were both later on transformed into Latvian public agencies (Hassler 2003b ).
7 The Ecosystem Approach to Management in Baltic Sea Governance: Towards…