Mr Jacob HagbergMinistry of the Environment and EnergyRegeringskanslietSE-103 33 StockholmTel: +46 70 6595865E-mail:
Jakob LundgrenMinistry for the Environment and EnergyPhone +46 72 email@example.com
The Swedish Baltic Sea coastline extends all the way from the northernmost part of the Bothnian Bay to the Skagerrak, a distance of more than 1,500 kilometres.
The Swedish coast and particularly the archipelagos and the islands of Gotland and Öland are enormously important for summer recreation and outdoor life.
Coastal sites of cultural heritage have been adversely affected and integrated costal zone management is an important means of resolving conflicts of interest. Just over one thousand professional fishermen were registered in the Baltic Sea coastal districts in 1998. This number continues to decline.
The wind power industry has shown a growing interest in exploiting the two large islands and the offshore banks of the Baltic Proper since the 1990s.
The main threats to the Baltic Sea are eutrophication, persistent organic pollutants, over-fishing, increased maritime traffic and non-indigenous species. Some 200 oil spills per year are recorded in Swedish waters, most of them in the Baltic Sea.Two out of fifteen national environmental quality objectives are particularly aimed at improving the state of the Baltic Sea including "Zero Eutrophication" and "A Balanced Marine Environment, Flourishing Coastal Areas and Archipelagos".
Other objectives will also be of great importance, however. Interim targets have been set for 2010. For example: "Long-term protection will be provided for at least 50% of marine environments that are worth protecting and at least 70% of coastal and archipelago areas with significant natural and cultural assets" and "waterborne anthropogenic nitrogen emissions in Sweden into the sea south of the Åland Sea will have been reduced by 30% compared with 1995 levels".
Ministry and government authorities/institutions
The Ministry of The Environment and Energy
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Swedish Chemicals Agency
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI)
Swedish Museum of Natural History
The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA)
Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management
Swedish Coast Guard
Monitoring and research
Environmental Objectives Portal
Eutrophication of soil and water (overview, Swedish EPA)
MARE (Marine Research on Eutrophication), a research programme to develop a scientific base for cost-effective measures for the Baltic Sea (a Mistra programme)
SUCOZOMA (Sustainable coastal zone management) – a research programme aiming to achieve sustainable use of resources, with regard both to the interests of coastal populations and the boundaries of the ecosystem (a Mistra programme)
The Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, (Mistra)
Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre
Umeå Marine Sciences Centre
Göteborg University Marine Research Centre (GMF)