Hanse-Sunshine-Tour 2000

The bicycle tour through the Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be held from August 2nd to August 13th 2000. After a ferry transfer from Rostock, the tour will start in Tallinn and will lead via UBC member cities Pärnu, Riga, Ventspils, Liepaja and Palanga to Klaipeda.

The bicycle tour is a goodwill action especially for children suffering from leukaemia, cancer and other chronic diseases. All 150 participants are persons engaged in sports, economics and politics. The Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Dr. Harald Ringstorff, is the patron of the tour. 
The organisers want to intensify political, economic and friendly connections. Moreover such activity supports integration of the Baltic republics within the European Community. In this sense it is continuing Hanseatic traditions. If you would like to support the tour please transfer your donation to the account mentioned below.

Baltic Sea Seven Islands 

The B7 organisation started in 1989. Since 1997 it has its own secretariat, an office in Brussels, three permanent working groups, a civil servant group and a steering committee. 
Environmental issues have priority in their cooperation. Beginning this year, B7 develops two Interreg II C projects. The Estonian islands participate as project observers. Yet, the PHARE component has not been decided upon.
The SUSWAT project (sustainable groundwater) is to exchange

knowledge and information between the seven islands, to develop relevant ideas for water protection and saving. It is expected that pilot projects for sustainable solutions for water supply in the islands will follow. Next, the BEST project (B7 Exchange of Sustainable Tourism). The objectives are to increase knowledge and information between the islands concerning sustainable tourism, create networks linked to tourism organisations, NGOs and research centers, create a Eco tourism-profile for business development. 
Other non EU projects include People to People activities; a Folk Youth Festival on Saaremaa, athletic games on Aland and a B7 exhibition on a ship visiting 17 Baltic harbours this summer. Also, B7 has started to investigate common possibilities to develop the food industry. Most of the islands work with the concept Regional Culinary Heritage. 
This summer two international conferences will be held on two of the B7 islands. The CPMR Island Commission Conference was held on Gotland, June 23-25 and the CPMR Baltic Sea Commission Conference will be on Oland, September 2-3. 
The B7 annual conference is held on Aland which holds the chairmanship this year. Next year Bornholm takes over.

Water - the Cycle of Life

Health Control and Environmental Centre of Lahti has started in April 1999 a one-year EU-project "Water-the cycle of Life" in co-operation with Calvia (Spain), Aalborg (Denmark), Groundwork-Blackburn (GB), Kirklees (GB) and Perpignan (France). It is about raising awareness of the problems of water conservation and resources management.
In the project we organize awareness raising, education and schooling that will be developed according to the principles of environmental concern, conservation and pollution control of our natural waters. Actions are linked to the Environmental Forum

of Lahti. Saving and conserving ground waters campaign is intended for general public and a guidebook for conserving and saving of potable water is prepared. Intensified pollution control efforts are directed to the prevention of oil accidents in diffrent locations.

BASE 21

Striving at creating a sustainable society, Gotland, an eco-municipality, together with the cities of Pärnu and Tukums (Estonia), has begun a pilot project aimed at setting up an interregional network for environmental organisations in the BSR. Their goal is to facilitate the development of organised environmental tasks in agreement with Agenda 21.
The basic project idea stems from the project group's belief that interregional environmental co-operation around the Baltic, intended to result in a sustainable use of common resources, must be based upon balanced ecological, economic and social development. It is important to encourage local efforts throughout the entire Baltic region in order to achieve good results with an interregional environmental project, both in terms of political decisions, as well as the activities of voluntary organisations involved in the environmental issues. Intensive environmental efforts on the Gotland related to the structure, administration and the establishment of various administration networks and businesses, serves as the fundamental action plan in the field of environmental improvement. Then, the project is to establish and secure environment. 
BASE 21 is thought to act as a pilot project, with the task of investigating and setting up the premises for local environmental organisations developing Agenda 21 from a grass roots level. These organisations will build internal networks (IT) and seek ways of establishing international cooperation. Even though the pilot project is limited to local efforts in 2 cities, the project is expected to act as a basis for developing more networks cored by the fiancing programme, namely the SWEBALTCOP.