Past activities

In 1991 the first task facing the newly established SULA office was to prepare the fourth issue of the UNESCO-ASP-INISTE Baltic Sea Project (BSP) Newsletter. Although this publication marked the end of a phase in introducing environmental education to school curricula around the Baltic Sea, SULA has continued to give environmental education high priority in all areas of activity around the Gulf of Finland.

In 1992 SULA was active in organising an environmental seminar at Kronstadt as a part of the first international ‘Our Common Environment St. Petersburg 92’ forum, and continues today to work in close contact with the people of Kronstadt.

Between 1993 and 1996 SULA organised a multi-disciplinary 3-day spring event at Suomenlinna called ‘Days of the Living Sea’. These events attempted to bring together scientists, artists, teachers and children from Finland, Russia and Estonia. With a programme of environmental seminars, nature-schools, field-research exercises, exhibitions, music and theatre, the event attempted to focus people's attention on the state of the Gulf of Finland environment and the meaning of sustainable development. Financial support for these events came from many sources, including the City of Helsinki, the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and also Unesco headquarters in Paris.

In 1994 the SULA office began to devote a great amount of time to assisting the establishment of the Baltic Floating University (BFU) under the auspices of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU), St. Petersburg. In co-operation with the RSHU, Unesco and research organisations in Finland, Russia and Estonia, SULA's work for the BFU involved organising international training-through-research expeditions, workshops and seminars, and also the preparation and publication of results. These early BFU activities did much to enable Russian scientists and students to build new friendships and establish new areas for joint-fieldwork from the Barents Sea to the Southern Baltic and also in many other parts of the world