Role Of Regional NGOs In Marine Environmental Governance

In the marine conservation of the Baltic Sea the role of regional Non-governmental Organizations(NGOs)is highly remarkable.Despite the fact that global governance system does not give any legal authority to NGOs,they play a vital role in the protection of the Baltic Sea by the use of a tool of information,education,awareness as well as training of government officials and guidance,lobby the government.The Baltic Sea is a semi-enclosed northeast European sea and is considered one of the most contaminated Sea in the world,some of the physical characteristics of the area make it especially vulnerable to contamination.Nine countries have border with the Baltic Sea and are affected from the environmental problems of the Baltic Sea: Denmark,Estonia,Finland,Germany,Latvia,Lithuania,Poland,Russia,and Sweden.All except Russia are part of the European Union.In the early 1970 s HELCOM(Helsinki Commission)was created as an intergovernmental regime to manage the Baltic Sea marine environment.The HELCOM regime is based on the voluntary cooperation of all nine coastal countries,and the European Commission.It works as a forum for sharing common environmental objectives and information regarding the Baltic Sea environment,for example,assessments of its ecological state and pollution.HELCOM's annual meetings are attended by national delegations,nominated by the member countries.But this intergovernmental regime has conventional,technical and scientific character.After the enlargement of the European Union in 2004,all Baltic Sea coastal states except Russia became EU members.They have to follow the EU policies and regulation.The EU has,however,announced the marine protection as an independent policy goal only recently.The2008 Marine Strategy FrameworkDirective(MSFD)serves as an environmental pillar of the EU Integrated Maritime Policy.The 2000 Water Framework Directive(WFD)is aimed at reaching the ‘healthy' status by realizing integrated river basin management.In addition,before in 1991 Urban Wastewater directive and the Nitrates Directive address nutrient loading from urban waste-water and agriculture.Both directives allow a certain degree of flexibility in order to take different regional conditions into account.However,still it appears that the Baltic Sea marineconservation appears to be a minor problem for European perspective.As a result,EU policies and regulations are often too flexible for protection sensitive sea.The new EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region(2009)containsdifferent policy sectors and facilitatescooperation among the Baltic Sea countries in the EU.However,there are some crucial problems and challengesin the strategy:(1)how to reach more effective cooperation as there are overlapping agendas and a clear lack of division of labor among current schemes of cooperation,(2)how to control the adopted strategy,and(3)how to make true commitment of the EU and avoid fragmentation or the giving in to pressures for parallel schemes to be set up elsewhere simply for the sake of policy balance.In addition,the most important,the strategy doesn't have a standard for coping with the many transnational issues that is part the strategy.Three out of the four pillars of the EU strategy for Baltic Sea depend on Russian fully engagement although Russia is not part of the strategy.Moreover,there is lack oft he EU policy towards Russia.As was mentioned above there are some serious loopholes of HELCOM and EU Strategy for Baltic Sea – two main intergovernmental regimes for marine conservation of Baltic Sea(some agreements are not binding,management problems,need for efficient cooperation,how to govern the strategy once adopted,some hot-spots remain polluted,not complete involvement of Russia as it is not a EU member).Therefore,it is demand of time that environmental NGOs decided to activate their campaigns for the formulation of environmental agreement that can compel states to do something tangible to protect the environment.Keeping in view the seriousness and severity of environmental problems and loopholes of HELCOM and EU Strategy for Baltic Sea,it can be fairly deduced that there is a dire need to do more for marine conservation.Constructivism is a useful approach to think about how NGOs influence international politics because it carry out its of power through communication.When people,governments,or non-state actors communicate with each other,that communication can create common understandings of roles and behaviors.Over time,these understandings become rules that govern behavior and further communication.The power of NGOs is the power of persuasion by educating the public,advocacy,lobbying,making research and monitoring international agreements.Baltic Sea regional NGOs can influence policy change.First,NGOs collect data on human causes of Baltic Sea pollution.Later,using this data,they begin to advocate their position,pushing the state to develop marine conservation policies and promoting joint action to restore the marine environment of the Baltic Sea.In their reports,Baltic Sea regional NGOs make this region realize that the protection of the Baltic Sea is their national issue,explaining its ecological and legal implications.