Baltic Breakfast: Combating eutrophication for a cleaner Baltic Sea

WEBINAR

Date: Friday 8 October 2021 09.00 – 09.45

Location: Digital event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1YI7s6RYcs

From Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre:

“Upcoming Baltic Breakfast, jointly organised by Consulate of Sweden in Saint Petersburg and the Baltic Sea Centre, deals with eutrophication. Sergey Kondratyev, Russian Academy of Science, and Linda Kumblad, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre, will share their knowledge.

Eutrophication is not a new issue for the Baltic Sea. On the contrary, it is a constant topic in politics and public debate. Even though research shows that nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations are no longer increasing, the state of the sea is far from good. It will take time to see results, but the work to reduce nutrient flows from land to the sea must go on. 

Efforts by the wastewater and agriculture sectors have reduced nitrogen and phosphorus inputs from land. With improved wastewater treatment capacities, many countries can now remove over 90% of phosphorus from centralized wastewater. Challenges remain, however, to address nutrient leakage from many individual sewers. 

Farmers throughout the region have adopted nutrient management practices that reduce the risk of nutrient leakage, but agriculture remains the largest source of waterborne nutrient emissions to the Baltic Sea. The structure of agriculture -- specialisation and spatial separation of crop and animal production -- is a major contributor to nutrient surpluses. These surpluses result from the inefficient use of fertilisers (manure and mineral fertilisers) and increase the risk of nutrient leakage from agricultural land. 

This webinar will present research on nutrient loading to the Gulf of Finland and discuss how local actions can contribute to improved water quality. How did they implement these measures? Which measures have been effective in reducing eutrophication?

Welcome!”