On July 1, 2020, Germany will take over the chairmanship of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) on marine protection in the Baltic Sea for two years. During this time, Germany will tackle the central environmental problems of the Baltic Sea: the oversupply of nutrients, munitions dumps, marine waste, underwater noise and climate change are the pressures on the Baltic Sea's marine ecosystems that Germany wants to address during its presidency. A further aim is to improve the protection of marine species and habitats and, to this end, to further develop the network of marine protected areas and its effective management. Germany also wants to use the economic recovery following the Corona crisis to make progress in marine protection and climate issues.
In less than four weeks, our Berlin team, in close cooperation with the client and the BMU's technical service provider Jakobs Medien, designed and executed the kick-off event for the German HELCOM presidency.
The kick-off was a ceremonial act live-streamed in both German and English from the BMU's event courtyard. Approximately 15 guests and speakers -including the Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze and Her Excellency, the Ambassador of Finland to the Federal Republic of Germany, Anne Sipliäinen-met in the ministry in compliance with the specified safety distances.
Further participants and interested parties were able to follow the event via the livestream on the BMU's website. Other high-ranking speakers such as the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, and the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther, were represented on video messages.
After the festive ceremony, an expressive press photo with the HELCOM logo was taken, in which the speakers symbolically put together as a puzzle on stage. This was followed by technical contributions from speakers who were partly live and partly digitally connected, for example from NABU or the WWF.
With the concluding words of the BMU Secretary of State, Jochen Flasbarth, and the Minister of the Environment of Schleswig-Holstein, Jan Philipp Albrecht, the kick-off event for Germany's HELCOM presidency on 02.07.2020 ended as a complete success.
With the concluding words of the BMU Secretary of State, Jochen Flasbarth, and the Minister of the Environment of Schleswig-Holstein, Jan Philipp Albrecht, the kick-off event for Germany's HELCOM presidency on 02.07.2020 ended as a complete success.
2020
