scholarly journals How unnecessarily high abatement costs and unresolved distributional issues undermine nutrient reductions to the Baltic Sea

AMBIO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Andersson ◽  
Mark V. Brady ◽  
Johanna Pohjola
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Good Health ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Side Payments ◽  
Nutrient Emissions ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Abatement Strategy

AbstractThis paper systematically reviews the literature on how to reduce nutrient emissions to the Baltic Sea cost-effectively and considerations for allocating these costs fairly among countries. The literature shows conclusively that the reduction targets of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) could be achieved at considerably lower cost, if countries would cooperate to implement the least costly abatement plan. Focusing on phosphorus abatement could be prudent as the often recommended measures—wastewater treatment and wetlands—abate nitrogen too. An implication of our review is that the potential for restoring the Baltic Sea to good health is undermined by an abatement strategy that is more costly than necessary and likely to be perceived as unfair by several countries. Neither the BSAP nor the cost-effective solution meet the surveyed criteria for fairness, implying a need for side-payments.

scholarly journals Does Mussel Farming Promote Cost Savings and Equity in Reaching Nutrient Targets for the Baltic Sea?

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ing-Marie Gren ◽  
Sarah Säll ◽  
Abenezer Aklilu ◽  
Wondmagegn Tirkaso
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Abatement Cost ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Trading Systems ◽  
Mussel Farming ◽  
Nutrient Trading ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
The Cost

Mussel farming has been suggested as a low-cost option for reducing nutrient content in eutrophied waters. This study examines whether mussel farming contributes to reductions in total nutrient abatement cost and increases in equity for achieving nutrient load reduction targets to the Baltic Sea under different international policy regimes (cost-effective, country targets set by the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), and nutrient-trading markets). A cost-minimizing model is used to calculate the cost savings, and the analytical results show that mussel farming is a cost-effective option only when the marginal abatement cost is lower than for other abatement measures. The numerical cost-minimizing model of the Baltic Sea indicates that the largest abatement cost reductions from introduction mussel farming, approximately 3.5 billion SEK (9.36 SEK = 1 Euro), are obtained under the cost-effective and nutrient-trading systems. Equity, as measured by abatement cost in relation to affordability in terms of gross domestic product, is improved by mussel farming under the cost-effective regime but reduced under the BSAP country targets and nutrient-trading regimes.

scholarly journals Remediating Agricultural Legacy Nutrient Loads in the Baltic Sea Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3872
Author(s):  
Julia Tanzer ◽  
Ralf Hermann ◽  
Ludwig Hermann
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Nutrient Loads ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Nutrient Emissions ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Agricultural Legacy

The Baltic Sea is considered the marine water body most severely affected by eutrophication within Europe. Due to its limited water exchange nutrients have a particularly long residence time in the sea. While several studies have analysed the costs of reducing current nutrient emissions, the costs for remediating legacy nutrient loads of past emissions remain unknown. Although the Baltic Sea is a comparatively well-monitored region, current data and knowledge is insufficient to provide a sound quantification of legacy nutrient loads and much less their abatement costs. A first rough estimation of agricultural legacy nutrient loads yields an accumulation of 0.5–4.0 Mt N and 0.3–1.2 Mt P in the Baltic Sea and 0.4–0.5 Mt P in agricultural soils within the catchment. The costs for removing or immobilising this amount of nutrients via deep water oxygenation, mussel farming and soil gypsum amendment are in the range of few tens to over 100 billion €. These preliminary results are meant as a basis for future studies and show that while requiring serious commitment to funding and implementation, remediating agricultural legacy loads is not infeasible and may even provide economic benefits to local communities in the long run.

SOKO PROJECT: DEVELOPING DETAILED OIL COMBATING PLAN FOR MANAGING ON-SHORE CLEAN-UP PROCEDURES IN FINLAND

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (1) ◽  
pp. 373-379
Author(s):  
Justiina Halonen ◽  
Melinda Pascale
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Gulf Of Finland ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Railway Transportation ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Rescue Services ◽  
The Baltic

ABSTRACT Shipping on the Baltic Sea, especially the transportation of oil, has grown significantly over the past few years. One of the most accident risky areas for Finland is situated in the Eastern Gulf of Finland (lat. 60° 11’ long. 027° 45’ E). The Baltic Sea has officially been classified by the International Maritime Organization as Particularly Sensitive Sea Area in 2005. In Finland the Regional Rescue Services (RRS) are responsible for organising on-shore clean-up with the assistance of the Regional Environmental Centres (REC). These oil combating authorities of Kymenlaakso region in south-eastern Finland have developed a thorough preparedness for oil incidents with the help of SOKO – Management of on-shore oil combating - project (SOKO). SOKO, innovated and administrated by the Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences (KyAMK), produced a detailed guidebook for oil combating authorities and the response commander (RC). The scope of the guidebook was achieved as an interdisciplinary effort between educational institutes, rescue services, environmental centres, authorities, civic organisations and businesses. The guidebook provides detailed information on how to conduct oil combating in the case of a major oil incident where the oil reaches the shores. The guidebook is used as an action plan, as a manual for the response commander (RC) as well as for training both authorities and volunteers. It is an extensive collection of studies undertaken by further education students and specialists under the supervision of the project steering committee, formed by local oil combating authorities and KyAMK SOKO project personnel. The guidebook discusses the oil combating organisation and the management, the human resources, the communication and the financing issues. The guidebook also covers the arranging cleaning operations, the oil combating equipment and the temporary storage sites in the mainland and the archipelago and the construction specifications for the temporary storages. Transportation of oily wastes was also examined including the methods for loading and discharging oily wastes, as well as the sea, road and railway transportation methods using a database for estimating the best and most economic routes from the archipelago to the mainland. In addition, detailed operative charts were produced, with indications of the cleaning sectors and the oil waste transportation spots. The SOKO contingency plan differs from the governmental plans by focusing only on the on-shore response excluding the at-sea response. The role of the oil combating authorities in the project was to identify unresolved issues in preparedness, provide practical information, supervise and accept the outcome. The main financier of SOKO in 2003–2007 was the Finnish Ministry of Education. The SOKO concept is currently expanding to cover more coastal area in the Gulf of Finland (SOKO II -project 2007–2011).

scholarly journals Nitrogen surface water retention in the Baltic Sea drainage basin

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 10829-10858 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Stålnacke ◽  
A. Pengerud ◽  
A. Vassiljev ◽  
E. Smedberg ◽  
C.-M. Mörth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Water Retention ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Total N ◽  
N Retention ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract. In this paper, we estimate the surface water retention of nitrogen (N) in all the 117 drainage basins to the Baltic Sea with the use of a statistical model (MESAW) for source apportionment of riverine loads of pollutants. Our results show that the MESAW model was able to estimate the N load at the river mouth of 88 Baltic Sea rivers, for which we had observed data, with a sufficient degree of precision and accuracy. The estimated retention parameters were also statistically significant. Our results show that around 380 000 t of N are annually retained in surface waters draining to the Baltic Sea. The total annual riverine load from the 117 basins to the Baltic Sea was estimated to 570 000 t of N, giving a total surface water N retention of around 40%. In terms of absolute retention values, three major river basins account for 50% of the total retention in the 117 basins; i.e. around 104 000 t of N is retained in Neva, 55 000 t in Vistula and 32 000 t in Oder. The largest retention was found in river basins with a high percentage of lakes as indicated by a strong relationship between N retention (%) and share of lake area in the river drainage areas. For example in Göta älv, we estimated a total N retention of 72%, whereof 67% of the retention occurred in the lakes of that drainage area (Lake Vänern primarily). The obtained results will hopefully enable the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) to refine the nutrient load targets in the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), as well as to better identify cost-efficient measures to reduce nutrient loadings to the Baltic Sea.

A combination of species distribution and ocean-biogeochemical models suggests that climate change overrides eutrophication as the driver of future distributions of a key benthic crustacean in the estuarine ecosystem of the Baltic Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 2089-2105
Author(s):  
Mayya Gogina ◽  
Michael L Zettler ◽  
Irene Wåhlström ◽  
Helén Andersson ◽  
Hagen Radtke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Nutrient Loads ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Estuarine Ecosystem ◽  
Biogeochemical Models ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract Species in the brackish and estuarine ecosystems will experience multiple changes in hydrographic variables due to ongoing climate change and nutrient loads. Here, we investigate how a glacial relict species (Saduria entomon), having relatively cold, low salinity biogeographic origin, could be affected by the combined scenarios of climate change and eutrophication. It is an important prey for higher trophic-level species such as cod, and a predator of other benthic animals. We constructed habitat distribution models based occurrence and density of this species across the entire Baltic and estimated the relative importance of different driving variables. We then used two regional coupled ocean-biogeochemical models to investigate the combined impacts of two future climate change and nutrient loads scenarios on its spatial distribution in 2070–2100. According to the scenarios, the Baltic Sea will become warmer and fresher. Our results show that expected changes in salinity and temperature outrank those due to two nutrient-load scenarios (Baltic Sea Action Plan and business as usual) in their effect on S. entomon distribution. The results are relatively similar when using different models with the same scenarios, thereby increasing the confidence of projections. Overall, our models predict a net increase (and local declines) of suitable habitat area, total abundance and biomass for this species, which is probably facilitated by strong osmoregulation ability and tolerance to temperature changes. We emphasize the necessity of considering multiple hydrographic variables when estimating climate change impacts on species living in brackish and estuarine systems.

scholarly journals Nitrogen surface water retention in the Baltic Sea drainage basin

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 981-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Stålnacke ◽  
A. Pengerud ◽  
A. Vassiljev ◽  
E. Smedberg ◽  
C.-M. Mörth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Water Retention ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Total N ◽  
N Retention ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract. In this paper, we estimate the surface water retention of nitrogen (N) in all the 117 drainage basins to the Baltic Sea with the use of a statistical model (MESAW) for source apportionment of riverine loads of pollutants. Our results show that the MESAW model was able to estimate the N load at the river mouth of 88 Baltic Sea rivers, for which we had observed data, with a sufficient degree of precision and accuracy. The estimated retention parameters were also statistically significant. Our results show that around 380 000 t of N are annually retained in surface waters draining to the Baltic Sea. The total annual riverine load from the 117 basins to the Baltic Sea was estimated at 570 000 t of N, giving a total surface water N retention of around 40%. In terms of absolute retention values, three major river basins account for 50% of the total retention in the 117 basins; i.e. around 104 000 t of N are retained in Neva, 55 000 t in Vistula and 32 000 t in Oder. The largest retention was found in river basins with a high percentage of lakes as indicated by a strong relationship between N retention (%) and share of lake area in the river drainage areas. For example in Göta älv, we estimated a total N retention of 72%, whereof 67% of the retention occurred in the lakes of that drainage area (Lake Vänern primarily). The obtained results will hopefully enable the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) to refine the nutrient load targets in the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), as well as to better identify cost-efficient measures to reduce nutrient loadings to the Baltic Sea.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF BLUE GROWTH ON BALTIC SEA REGION PORTS

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 224
Author(s):  
Astrida Rijkure
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
Blue Growth ◽  
Smart Specialization ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Port Infrastructure

There is little attention in the Baltics dedicated to the research of ports as economic subjects and their impact on environment. It is vital to strengthen the links between the ports and the Blue Growth while raising awareness of the Blue Growth and making it a cross-cutting issue of the sea-oriented priority areas by creating a special mechanism to support Blue Growth which so far has had insignificant links to port operations. The aim of the article is to analyze the trends and summarize the measures already taken for promotion and integration of the Blue Growth in the Baltic Sea region, and to develop guidelines for ports based on the general and the Baltic Sea Blue Growth strategy, to draw conclusions and to submit proposals for improvement and increase of the Blue Growth. Latvia needs to develop an action plan in order, without unnecessary errors, to quickly implement sustainable port infrastructure and reduce pollution of the sea. The task is to identify the best practices for usage of marine/coastal resources for economic development, and for identification and testing of new smart specialization measures.

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