At the meeting, Finland took over the Chairmanship of the Working Group on Environment (WGE) from Sweden. The Swedish Chairmanship was ended with exclusion of four Hot Spots from the Barents Hot Spots List. The removed Hot Spots included Koryazhma branch of Ilim Group JSC (A5), and enterprises of pulp and paper as sources of dioxin pollution in Arkhangelsk region (A9-1), Sewage treatment in the Republic of Karelia (K5), and Mondi Syktyvkar Pulp and Paper Mill (wastewater discharge) in the Republic of Komi (Ko3-2).
During the meeting, the Barents ministers reaffirmed their commitment to implement the Paris Agreement, and acknowledged the need to raise collective ambition in 2020 to be in line with the Agreement's goals. Climate change, loss of biodiversity and environmental pollution were discussed among other environmental challenges in the Barents region.
Protection of natural ecosystems, shift to green resource efficient circular economy, and emission reduction of short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon were acknowledged as possible future measures in tackling these issues.
Photo: IBS
Swedish Minister of Environment and Climate Isabella Lövin handed over the Chairmanship stick to the Finnish Minister Krista Mikkonen. The key themes for Finland's Chairmanship are a carbon neutral circular economy, protecting biodiversity, and climate change. Read more
See the Declaration of the Ministerial Meeting in English and in Russian
Ministerial Meeting's documents
Read more about the Barents Environmental Hot Spots EN