Baltic Environmental Agricultural Run-Off Programme (BEAROP)

    The Baltic Sea Environment Action Program was endorsed by the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) in 1992. The objective was to restore the ecological balance of the Baltic Sea. Agriculture is regarded as the largest anthropogenic source of nitrogen and phosphorus load to the Baltic Sea. Agricultural sources account for 30-35 % of the total nitrogen and 10 % of the total phosphorus load to the Baltic Sea.
        In 1993 the Swedish Government allocated 25 million SEK to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) as a contribution to the work within HELCOM. The commission was to initiate education and demonstration projects to reduce agricultural run-off in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. SLU was also asked to set up a Steering Group and to accomplish the mission in co-operation with other organisations in the participating countries and Sweden, which could contribute to the implementation of the programme.