After many years of research, we know a great deal about the impacts that eutrophication, toxins and climate change have on the sea. For a sustainable management of the Baltic Sea, however, comprehensive knowledge of how problems are interrelated is required.
Monitoring below the surface. Photo: Jerker Lokrantz
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The Baltic Sea requires a holistic approach
With 85 million people living in the Baltic region, the pressure on the Baltic Sea ecosystem is high. The future of our unique inland sea very much depends on how we choose to look after it. The Baltic Ecosystem Adaptive Management, BEAM, is part of the Government's strategic research areas and also of the leading research areas that have been specially chosen to profile Stockholm University. The research aims to provide better opportunities for an ecosystem-based management of the Baltic Sea.
?The Baltic Sea requires environmental management based on the requirements of the ecosystem. Since the problems are interwoven, they cannot be treated separately. Measures against eutrophication will affect fish stocks, overfishing affects the level of toxins in fish and maybe even the frequency of algal blooms,? says Professor Ragnar Elmgren, programme coordinator for BEAM and researcher at the Department of Systems Ecology at Stockholm University.
Collaboration is the key
Stockholm University is one of the leading institutions in the world for Baltic Sea research, especially in ecosystem research, research on organic contaminants, natural resource management and the use of ecological models to support environmental management. By coordinating existing projects and different disciplines in one research program, the research can be further strengthened and will provide a better basis for policy decisions, directives and environmental targets. The methods that work, and support a functioning ecosystem management of the Baltic Sea, can be applied in environmental research in other sea areas.
?In this research programme we will also educate a new generation of marine ecology researchers with a common knowledge platform,? says Professor Ragnar Elmgren. ?This places society in a better position to deal with future environmental problems in the Baltic Sea.?
Text: Nastassja ?strand
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