This report reviews the findings of an ecological/economic analyses regarding the on-going and prospective efforts to reduce eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, conducted by BalticSTERN, an international research network. The results indicate that the overall benefits of fulfilling the targets of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) clearly outweigh their aggregate costs, suggesting that the BSAP is an economically sound plan for solving the transboundary eutrophication problem. The cost of inaction - not implementing the objectives of the BSAP - would be significant.

This edited volume presents a comprehensive and coherent interdisciplinary analysis of challenges and possibilities for sustainable governance of the Baltic Sea ecosystem by combining knowledge and approaches from natural and social sciences. Focusing on the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) and associated multi-level, multi-sector and multi-actor challenges, the book provides up-to-date descriptions and analyses of environmental governance structures and processes at the macro-regional Baltic Sea level. Organised in two parts, Part 1 presents in-depth case studies of environmental governance practices and challenges linked to five key environmental problems - eutrophication, chemical pollution, overfishing, oil discharges and invasive species. Part 2 analyses and compares governance challenges and opportunities across the five case studies, focusing on governance structures and EAM implementation, knowledge integration and science support, as well as stakeholder communication and participation. Based on these cross-case comparisons, this book also draws a set of general conclusions on possible ways of improving the governance of the Baltic Sea by promoting what are identified as vital functions of environmental governance: coordination, integration, interdisciplinarity, precaution, deliberation, communication and adaptability.

Marine Ecosystem Services (MARECOS) is an interdisciplinary study that provides relevant information for national, Nordic and international ecosystem services assessments and valuation in the implementation of marine policy. This report aims to provide suggestions on how ecosystem condition assessments, being based on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and the HELCOM indicator based assessments for the Baltic Sea, could be used for the assessment of ecosystem services. By describing the potentials of linking data and knowledge describing the status of marine ecosystems and water quality to the values of the services and goods provided, the report offers useful information for policy and decision makers in the domain of the marine and aquatic policies around the Baltic and in the Nordic countries.

People are dependent on the ocean and coasts and their resources for their survival and well-being. Coastal ecosystems of the Nordic countries, such as kelp forests, blue mussel beds, eelgrass meadows and shallow bays and inlets, provide a number of supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services to both the local communities as well as the wider population who benefit from them. The study has focused on examining these coastal values through selected examples, and recommend possible applications and relevance for the management of the Nordic coastal areas and their resources. The project has also identified key gaps in the knowledge and suggests where further work should be emphasized.

​This book is an update of the first BACC assessment, published in 2008. It offers new and updated scientific findings in regional climate research for the Baltic Sea basin. These include climate changes since the last glaciation (approx. 12,000 years ago), changes in the recent past (the last 200 years), climate projections up until 2100 using state-of-the-art regional climate models and an assessment of climate-change impacts on terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. There are dedicated new chapters on sea-level rise, coastal erosion and impacts on urban areas. A new set of chapters deals with possible causes of regional climate change along with the global effects of increased greenhouse gas concentrations, namely atmospheric aerosols and land-cover change. The evidence collected and presented in this book shows that the regional climate has already started to change and this is expected to continue. Projections of potential future climates show that the region will probably become considerably warmer and wetter in some parts, but dryer in others. Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have already shown adjustments to increased temperatures and are expected to undergo further changes in the near future. The BACC II Author Team consists of 141 scientists from 12 countries, covering various disciplines related to climate research and related impacts. BACC II is a project of the Baltic Earth research network and contributes to the World Climate Research Programme.

This book shows, we believe, the breadth and the complexity of issues that econo mists now tackle in their analysis of the connections between the ecosystem and the economic system. The book offers contributions to such disparate issues as the value of preserving the wolf in Sweden and the proper distribution of permits in an effective global warming treaty. Because these questions remain at the fore front of important resource allocation problems that need to be confronted, it is only appropriate that they are represented in a book that intends to paint a picture, albeit certainly incomplete, of the vibrant and progressing state of environmental economics. The contributions cover five areas of environmental economics: policy instru ments, cost-benefit analysis, cost-efficiency, contingent valuation and experimental economics. Each area is worthy of a book by itself, but here we have made a point of focusing on problems that seem directly applicable to the pressing policy issues of today. Thus, the contributors address topics that are directly relevant to interna tional and regional policy making, as well as those that are linked to development of supporting information systems (e.g. resource accounting). In addition, the con tributions seek to provide high-level applications of measurement techniques as well as pertinent critiques of these methods. The next section provides a summary overview of the book.