Baltic Environmental Forum Group

The Baltic Environmental Forum (BEF) was founded in 1995 by the Baltic Ministries of Environment, Germany and the European Commission as a technical assistance project aiming at strengthening the co-operation among the Baltic environmental authorities. Over time, BEF became accepted as institution for networking and experience exchange among environmental stakeholders in the Baltic States. The organization has contributed to the EU accession process in the Baltic States with a large amount of events and trainings targeted at understanding of the environmental legislation to be transposed and facilitating dialogue and experience exchange for its implementation. The goals of the BEF Group are to act in various fields of environmental policy with regard to capacity building, experience transfer and facilitation of different stakeholders in the Baltic Sea region. Additionally it is envisaged to extend the scope of activities to other countries in Eastern Europe - to make use of its location and to facilitate cooperation with the neighbouring countries Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.