Towards a new plan, for CCB and the Baltic Sea

CCB • May 24, 2019

The CCB Board Meeting (16-17/05), Annual Conference (18/05) and Extraordinary General Meeting (19/05) were held in Baltezers, Latvia, at Baltvilla Hotel.

The Board Meeting addressed important issues, including the approval of:

The theme of CCB’s Annual Conference 2019 was “ Towards a new plan, for CCB and the Baltic Sea “.
In the first part, there were group discussions and presentations on the project proposals for 2020-2021 of CCB Working Areas: Water Protection in Agriculture, River Basin and Wastewater Management, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Biodiversity and Nature Conservation, Hazardous Substances and Marine Litter, Harmful Installations and Maritime Transport, Sustainable Development in Coastal and Marine Areas.

Moreover, some participants from the transboundary Daugava river rafting/kayaking expedition , which took place on 14-17 May, talked about the event and shared their experiences.

In the second part, participants were guided by two external consultants from Presencing Institute through the process of “looking inwards” into the values of the coalition and reinvigorate the “soul of the coalition”. Agenda of the day consisted of:

  • Introduction and lecture about systems thinking, divides we see in world, Theory U

Related documents:
Presentation from Julie Arts, PI
– Executive summary (in different languages): https://www.presencing.org/resource/executive-summaries
– Tools: https://www.presencing.org/resource/tools

  • Quality of Listening & Dialogue + Exercise: dialogue walk
  • 3-D Sculpting: sculpt current reality of what the coalition looks like today and imagining desired optimal future and identification of actions
  • Prototyping Cafe: moving into joint action around topics/initiatives that want to be discussed further (coming out of 3-D sculpting)

During the General Meeting, the CCB Board accepted two new member organizations, SOFIA (Sweden) and Center for Environmental Solutions – CES (Belarus), and elected the new Board Member from Russia and the new Alternate from Sweden.

CCB´s events ended with a guided tour at Kemeri National Park.

CCB expresses a warm welcome to the new organisations and board members and wishes a strong and successful collaboration for the upcoming years.
These meetings represented once again an important moment for all of us to share ideas and strengthen our relations towards a new plan of actions and the CCB 30th Anniversary in 2020.

Last but not least, a special thanks to all the participants and sincere gratitude to Janis Matulis and his colleagues from “ Latvian Green Movement ” for their support in the organisation of CCB´s events.

(foto credit: Andis Uzulnieks, LaGM ).

By CCB April 30, 2026
Failure to implement EU fisheries law, not gaps in the policy itself, has pushed the Baltic Sea to the brink. Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) urges immediate action to rebuild Baltic fish populations and restore ecosystems.
By CCB March 30, 2026
Brussels, 30 March 2026 - Today, Fisheries Ministers from EU Member States meet with the European Commission for the AGRIFISH Council. On this occasion, Oceana, BLOOM, ClientEarth, Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB), Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Seas At Risk and WWF EU, handed a symbolic ''Pandora’s Box'' to the EU Commissioner Costas Kadis, sending a clear message as the European Commission prepares its 2026 evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The box represents the risks of revising EU’s main fishery policy framework: once opened, competing demands from Member States, industry, small-scale fishers, and coastal communities could quickly spiral into division, regulatory delays and uncertainties. This would put at risk the hard-won progress made in restoring Europe’s fish populations and improving the profitability of the fishing sector. NGOs urge decision makers to build on the progress made to date and to prioritise the full and timely implementation of the existing rules. Reopening the CFP and its related provisions would undermine ocean health and the long-term future of Europe’s fishing communities. '' Europe's fisheries policy is facing a credibility test. The law is already there. The tools to rebuild our seas already exist. What's missing is the political will to deliver. Overfishing should have ended by 2020 at the latest. Reopening the CFP would signal that missed deadlines carry no consequences, erode trust, revert the progress made, and put the future of our fisheries and coastal communities at stake ’’, said the NGO coalition. *** Oceana: Vera Coelho, Executive Director and Vice President in Europe BLOOM: Claire Nouvian, Founder and General Director ClientEarth: John Condon, Lead of Marine Ecosystems Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB): Ida Carlén, Co-Chair Environmental Justice Foundation: Steve Trent, CEO/Founder Seas At Risk: Dr Monica Verbeek, Executive Director WWF EU: Ester Asin, Director