Briefing brochure RECOCA project
BONUS Briefing 15, October 2011
The Baltic Sea is under severe stress, experiencing eutrophication
caused by excessive nutrient loads which lead to excessive phytoplankton
production, reduced water transparency and ultimately
hypoxia/anoxia. Combating eutrophication by nutrient reduction is
vital in order to reach a healthier Baltic Sea. RECOCA has created an
array of hierarchical connected data bases and models via the decision
support system Nest, assuring for the first time realistic Baltic-wide
estimates of anticipated nutrient reductions and their costs.
KEY RESULTS
Dramatic increases in fertilizer use are likely to occur in transitional
countries, and there is a high risk that nutrient loads to
the Baltic Sea, particularly from Poland, the Baltic states and
Russia will increase.
Costs of achieving a cost-effective fulfilment of the targets set
in the Baltic Sea Action Plan will undoubtedly be lower for the
countries around the Baltic than the costs, which are incurred
by these states under the present Baltic Sea Action Plan allocation
of emissions reductions.
RECOCA enables decision makers to produce well-grounded
recommendations on how to achieve cost-effective nutrient
reductions programmes at regional and Baltic-wide scale.
WHO NEEDS THE INFORMATION
The implementation of the eutrophication section within the Baltic
Sea Action Plan requires modelling tools to simulate the effects of
various abatement strategies and to estimate the related costs.
RECOCA supports policy makers by providing interactive, user friendly,
online visualisations through the Nest system, relating
major human induced and economic drivers to diffusive and point
emissions sources for the entire Baltic Sea catchment.
Files available for download
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