2006 and 2007: Gathering and analysing information

Baltic Sea 2020 was founded in the autumn 2005. In the first years it focused largely on understanding the challenges of the Baltic Sea. In collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences a scientific council was established consisting of prominent scientists in the region. The council provided information and analyses to the Baltic Sea 2020 board of directors. During this period, several projects were generated with the goal of establishing new knowledge and analysing and summarising existing expertise, mainly through international scientific workshops. These efforts also helped create a network of scientists the board can consult to evaluate projects.

Measures
The goal of the foundation is to promote meaningful measures that in all probability are good for, and almost certainly have no negative impact on, the Baltic Sea. Thus far Baltic Sea 2020 has focused on fishing and eutrophication.

Our research projects within the focus area of eutrophication has contributed in creating the foundations position in how to cope with eutrophication, For example two projects can be mentioned: “Nitrogen fertilizing of forests” and Daniel Conley’s project “Ecological Engineering” that has researched the possibility to oxygenate the open se by engineering methods.

Two other interesting projects within the focus area eutrophication are “Environmental Mussles” that aims to develop mussel farming as a cost effective environmental measure to enhance water quality in the Baltic Sea as well as “Mitigating measures to reduce phosphorus leakage from arable land” a cooperation with IVL that will assess the real potential and cost effectiveness for ditch dams and ditch filters to reduce phosphorus leakage from arable land around the Baltic Sea. Recent desk/lab studies estimates the potential of using ditch dams and filters to reduce this leakage with 30-40 %.

In addition to the eutrophication projects mentioned above the foundation has initiated the project “Best practice manure handling” with the overarching objective to reduce nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea through identifying best available technology and practices for manure handling.

The most important measure for fishing is to re-establish a sustainable cod population at an ecologically optimal level. Baltic Sea 2020 has lobbied politicians and decision makers heavily to follow the ICES’s scientific recommendations for the eastern stocks in the Baltic Sea. Our efforts were successful for the 2009 quotas. Baltic Sea 2020 will continue to work with politicians in the Baltic countries in the coming years so that in 3–4 years we will have a stock that will tolerate long-term fishing at 2–3 times the current level and at the same time improve the Baltic Sea environment by reducing the number of sprat, increasing the amount of zooplankton and thereby reducing algal bloom in the summer season. This is perhaps the most important factor in the short run for improved water quality in the Baltic Sea.

The foundation is funding an experiment to plant pikeperch in Himmerfjärden Bay south of Stockholm, to see if this leads to less algae in the archipelago, just as an increased cod population could lead to less algae in the open Baltic.

The foundations main media project, the 10-year long film project “Baltic Sea Media Project” is lead by the filmmakers Folke Rydén and Mattias Klum and Folke Rydén that will spend ten years documenting the efforts to save the Baltic Sea with the aim to enlighten the 90 million people who live around the Baltic about the seas critical situation. The first documentary “For Cod’s Sake” has begun to broadcast by different tv-channels around the Baltic Sea. At the same time an internet site with educational material has been launched. The foundation has during the fall 2009 decided to start the production of the second film (about eutrophication) that will be ready for release in the fall 2011.

Grants and asset management
Baltic Sea 2020’s board has granted a total of SEK 65 million since its start, allocated for research, applied projects and media/lobbying projects. Over 40 projects have been initiated so far, 25 of which were completed by the end of 2009.

The foundation has a cautious fund placement policy. In 2006 and half of 2007 some 60% was invested in mutual funds and 40% in interest-bearing placements. From August 2007 to December 2008 almost the entire capital was invested in treasury bills. In the first three years the foundation’s capital increased from SEK 500 million to SEK 570 million. During the same period the foundation paid grants and had administrative costs of about SEK 70 million.

Björn Carlson,
Chairman of the Board, Baltic Sea 2020