EARTH SUMMIT+5 Special Session of the General Assembly to Review and Appraise the Implementation of Agenda 21 New York, 23-27 June 1997 SUCCESS STORIES FROM EUROPE

	BALLERINA - Environmental Information Gateway to the Baltic Sea Region
	Location	Baltic Sea Region (comprising riparian states Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russian Federation and Sweden), and parts of five other states (Belarus, Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia and Ukraine).
	Responsible organization	UNEP GRID-Arendal (Norway), Stockholm Marine Research Centre, and a large number of partner organizations in the Baltic Sea Region.
	Description	The BALLERINA initiative - Baltic Sea Region On-Line Environmental Information Resources for Internet Access - is a web site and a network of co-operating partners (insitutes and organizations in the Baltic Sea Region).
	Issues addressed	State of the marine and terrestrial environment, the use of natural resources and various aspects of sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region.
	Objectives	To improve the availability and access to information about issues on environment, natural resources and sustainable development relating to the transboundary Baltic Sea Region. To collect, sort and present the information available on Internet for a multitude of users. To contribute to the sustainable development of the region and its environment, by making it easier to find information on issues and actors of relevance to decision-making at all levels. BALLERINA has been developed in response to the principles outlined in Chapter 40 of Agenda 21; Information for Decision Making.
	Results achieved	A comprehensive web site, based on annotated links, in operation since April 1997. The creation of an active regional network of information providers (governmental and non-governmental institutes and organizations). An increasing interest in using Internet as a resource to seek and find information of relevance in the Baltic Sea Region context and to communicate via this forum with others in the region.
	Lessons learned	BALLERINA is originally based on a regional information sharing based upon Internet concept developed by GLIN, Great Lakes Information Network in the US. The experience now gained from the work with BALLERINA is that just as the GLIN concept was transferrable to another region, so could the BALLERINA concept also be adapted and adjusted to other regions in the world. The fact that surprisingly much information is already available on the Internet - although sometimes difficult to find and time-consuming to look for - is another experience from the BALLERINA work. At the same time, important information providers in the region could be encouraged to publish their material.
	Financing	Grants from the Swedish and Norwegian Ministries of Environment, the European Environment Agency (EEA), and the Swedish Environment Protection Agency.
	Contact	Sindre Langaas, Network Co-ordinator UNEP GRID-Arendal E-mail: langaas@grida.no Britt Hagerhall Aniansson, BALLERINA Editor Stockholm Marine Research Centre E-mail: ballerina@smf.su.se Web: http://www.baltic-region.net/index.htm

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1 November 1997