Fundacja Nasza Ziemia

Press Conference July 4, 2012

Press Conference – See the Baltic!

Summary

The Our Earth Foundation and the Clean Up the World Foundation – Poland presented this year’s International Clean Up the Baltic Campaign under the slogan “See the Baltic… …clean …biodiverse …full of fish!” during their press conference on July 4^th 2012.

The foundations invited ambassadors from all of the countries that border the Baltic and members of the media to join them in front of the Earth Museum in Warsaw (Muzeum Ziemi). There they presented this years ambitious Clean Up Baltic Campaign and summarized their Sustainable Development Campaign, a project they worked on from January 2011 to June 2012.

A member from the office of BronisĹaw Komorowski, the Polish President, and representatives from the Lithuanian, Finish, Swedish and Russian embassies attended the conference.

First SĹawomir BrzĂłzek, vice president of the Our Earth Foundation, presented the achievements of the Sustainable Development Campaign. Next MaĹgosia Izdebska, coordinator of the International Clean Up Baltic Campaign, explained the idea and purpose behind this year’s Clean Up Baltic campaign. The Our Earth Foundation began the campaign six years ago to acquaint the public with the problems in the Baltic and encourage people to help protect the sea. Since then the number of problems in the Baltic has increased and as a result this years slogan, “See the Baltic… …clean …biodiverse …full of fish,” is open ended to allow the campaign to cover multiple of topics at once. Topics of the campaign include but are not limited to water contamination, protecting biodiversity, and increasing the fish populations in the Baltic.

The most important event of this year’s Clean Up the Baltic Campaign is the Baltic Sea March from the city of MiÄdzyzdroje to the Hel Peninsula organized by the Our Earth Foundation. This march officially starts on July 16^th at the University of Szczecin Marine Station in MiÄdzyzdroje and ends at the University of GdaĹsk Marine Station in Hel (320 km). During the entire march the Our Earth Foundation is going to monitor the cleanliness of the beaches and health of the surrounding environment.

Justyna Niewolewska, OCEAN2012 coordinator in Poland, went into more detail about the portion of the slogan “See the Baltic full of fish.” She explained the problems associated with over fishing and urged, “Right now we can end over fishing. At this moment the Common Fisheries Policy is being reformed and we need to convince politicians and decision makers that the Common Fisheries Policy requires considerable change to stop overfishing and have a healthy population of fish for many generations to come. ‘End overfishing’ is this year’s slogan for the European Fish Weeks, an international initiative whose goal is to stop overfishing, and Poland is getting involved through the Baltic Sea March.”

To show the importance of the effects of overfishing, the Our Earth and Clean Up the World foundations presented a patchwork created by children. Our Earth Clubs working with the Foundations put together the patchwork art. Each organization (preschool, community, primary school or orphanage) had a rectangular piece of cloth on which they created a picture of the sea, a fish, or another sea creature with various materials. The Foundations received more than 50 patches and sewed them all together to create the patchwork. The slogan on the patchwork says “Leave some fish for us! Children of the world. Thank you.”

The guests who attended the conference stated that they were interested in the cause and agreed to take a picture with the members of the foundation. The attendees and employees together stood in the shape of a fish and took a picture from above in order to show their support and “End overfishing.”

You can see pictures from the conference and our other events in our gallery.

Follow us while we march at www.naszaziemia.pland www.facebook.com/naszaziemiaor on our blog on the National Geographic Polska website.

Learn more about all the events connected with European Fish Weeks at www.oean2012.eu.