Water Forum of the Euroregion Baltic:
from SEAGULL to SEAGULL II

The period of 2004-2005 was prosperous for Euroregion Baltic (ERB), which unites the Baltic coast regions from Southern Sweden, Bornholm, Poland, Kaliningrad Oblast, Lithuania and Latvia, and all UBC cities in these regions. These years the ERB INTERREG IIIB Seagull Project (www.eurobalt.org) was accompanied by the Seagull RC Project "Russian component of the development strategy for Euroregion Baltic" under the leadership of UBC partner, the City of Baltijsk (Kaliningrad Oblast), and financing from the EU through the TACIS/2003/063-131 90 project.

Within the environmental section of the Joint Development Transnational Program elaborated during the projects activities, an initiative of the creation of an ERB Water Forum was pushed forward and widely discussed in Klaipeda on 6 October 2005, during a joint session of Seagull experts (from Swedish, Kaliningrad, Polish and Lithuanian partners) and participants of the 2nd European Lagoon Conference.

Water Forum is needed for for trans-national and cross-border cooperation and implementation of modern methods for water management (EU WFD and Russian Water Code) for the benefit of the environment and a sustainable development of the Baltic region.

The real content for the ERB Water Forum and practical steps to implement this idea are discussed now more in detail among the ERB partners and other actors. But important parts will be:

• A yearly conference to connect public, economy, science, policy and decision making about water within the ERB area and discuss common questions, priorities, etc.
• Permanent expert competence with
  the main target to gather and refine the experiences from implemented actions among the ERB partners, promote theregional competences, mediate contacts and increase cooperation between public administration, science and industry.
• External expert panel to secure the quality of performed activities.
  
• Special focus on establishment of river basin water management cooperation for cross-border basins and Water User Partnerships with great extent of private, public and academic participation.

Practical and education activities will focus at decreasing the outflow of nutrients from small and diffuse sources, i.e. farms, farming land, smaller settlements and private households. They will concentrate on a campaign to provide training and advice with the aim of encompassing the entire flow of nutrients from farms and promote environmental adapted farming through support of training activities - in cooperation with farmers' organisations, and others.

All these initiatives now will be supported by SEAGULL II: "Strengthening Institutional Structures and Spatial Development Capacities of Euroregion Baltic" which was supported by the EU this year.