News

Today, World Oceans Day, is a good opportunity to remember that we have a huge influence on the world's waters and we need to protect and clean them.    
 

Pollution is not only seen in remote places around the world, but also right here, right next to us - in our own inland waters and seas. You can see how many pieces of micro-litter are found in one litre of the Baltic Sea in this graph from the Environment Agency.


 

The Norwegian Financial Mechanism's Environment, Energy, Climate Change Programme is also contributing to the vital goal of reducing pollution in Lithuania's valuable inland waters and the sea. 
 

What is already being done?
 

This project will develop a system to remotely monitor data from the Baltic Sea and inland waters, land use changes and their potential impact on water quality parameters. Preliminary assessments of water bodies will be reviewed annually and potential problem water bodies will be identified for further monitoring and inspection. 

 

Lithuania does not yet have an official system for monitoring marine litter. The assessment of the current status of marine litter relies on the coastline and seabed surveys, and there is still no representative knowledge on marine litter, including microplastics. This project aims to fill the knowledge gaps on properties, quantities and possibly pollution routes of litter from their sources to the Baltic Sea. 

 

Both projects are implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency. 
 

For more information on the projects under the Environment, Energy, Climate Change Programme, click here.
 

The total amount allocated to the Environment, Energy, Climate Change Programme is €14.12 million, of which €12 million from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The implementation of the projects is supervised by the Central Project Management Agency (CPVA).