Balticsea 2020

Integrated economic-ecological analysis of the Baltic Sea as a system

When Sir Nicholas Stern analyzed the impact of climate change on the global economics resulting in the famous “Stern Review” in 2006, the statements were based on integrated assessment models. Integrated assessment models are developed jointly by engineers, economists and natural scientists and the models consist of both physical and biological factors, including mankind, and are used when evaluating consequences of a changing policy. In a complex system like the climate there are so many feedbacks between the different parts of the natural system and man that it is virtually impossible to analyze the outcome manually.

With this known, it seems fruitful to construct a coupled man-nature model to analyze the problems of the Baltic Sea.

In the project “Integrated economic-ecological analyses of the Baltic Sea as a system” a proposal for a BalticSTERN research program aiming at developing an integrated assessment model for the Baltic Sea was developed.

The results from this project are presented in the report (to the right).