Knowledge-hungry water management authorities
Image: Martina Jeuthe
Image: Martina Jeuthe
FEATURE Researchers and environmental management authorities must collaborate closely to achieve a good marine environment and a sustainable use of our seas. EcoChange offers the administrators of our water the basis for making decisions on environmental monitoring and measures.
Knowledge is a perishable commodity that must be continuously reviewed and used in the right context. It becomes even more important as the climate changes and we must re-evaluate assessments and weigh different interests in new ways. Within the sea and water management work, we address many challenges. A changed climate, synergistic effects of various environmental problems and the lack of data on the marine environment are at the forefront.
The problems are complicated, and the results are not obvious. Research must be synthesised and broken down on a fine geographical scale, as conditions differ greatly in distinct marine areas. When ecosystems differ year by year, the environmental problems and the effect of measures taken will differ too. We are constantly in need of future prospects, different scenarios, knowledge of response at ecosystem level, illumination of synergy effects, deeper knowledge of the effect of various measures, and of other unknowns we don’t yet have the knowledge to ask about today.
In ecosystem-based management, we look for ways to preserve biodiversity and use natural resources in a sustainable way. We want to use ecosystems for blue growth in the form of tourism, protein production and raw material extraction. Right now, we load the seas with fertilizers, plastics and environmental pollutants. We want to protect ever larger areas as much as possible from these environmental problems. The pressure on the coasts is increasing, and the equation is increasingly difficult to solve.
Intercalibration in the Bothnian Sea between Umeå Marine Research Center (KBV181) and Finland’s Environmental Center (R/V Aranda). Comparability between different samples is important in order to be able to draw firm conclusions about the state of the environment.
ImageFinlands miljöcentral SYKE
We need cooperation at all levels. But perhaps more important is the need for knowledge. With more knowledge on how the ecosystem and individual species are affected by the changing climate and multiple impacts, we must find a system that takes into account the entire ecosystem and provides the best possible conditions for long-term management and blue growth.
When environmental management needs more knowledge about complex and changing causal relationships, research programs like EcoChange are especially important. In our work with the Water and Marine Environment Directives, we identify the most cost-effective measures to achieve good status in our marine environments. But in order to succeed, Swedish environmental marine monitoring must be developed. We need to know the natural variations, be able to show trends and evaluate the measures taken.
Connecting the research world with the authorities that have the tools and the power to make decisions is essential. The results from EcoChange provide the basis for evaluating which measures are most effective, and gives insight into which environmental monitoring is needed. In a changing world, we see the need for even closer contact and established forums where sea and water management can record their continued need for research efforts.
Iréne Bohman is the director for South Baltic Water Authority, Administrative Board, Kalmar County, and a reference group member for EcoChange.