The Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union provides a common framework for water policy that focuses on holistic and integrated water management in river basins. In many member states, implementation of the WFD has shifted the main responsibility for local water issues from the municipal level to the regional or supra-regional levels. In this study, we investigated how the implementation of the WFD has influenced local-level water management including the interpretation of the new environmental quality standards. Specifically, we considered Sweden, which has traditionally had relatively strong governance at the municipal level. Because a sufficient amount of time has now passed for evaluation of WFD-related effects on operational water handling, we interviewed individuals directly involved in water planning and land use planning at the municipal level in one sub catchment in the Northern Baltic Sea River Basin District of Sweden, as well as representatives for superior levels and associations. Despite divergent views regarding the priority of water issues in physical planning among the local-level planners interviewed, they had all participated in successful inter-municipal pre-WFD collaboration projects. Although such collaborations could help increase the understanding and acceptance of WFD-related goals and costs, as well as facilitate conflict solving, as shown in the Oxunda Catchment, they have not gained much attention in the WFD implementation process. Additionally, physical planners have generally been reluctant to accept new environmental quality standards resulting from WFD implementation, in part because they lack precise definitions, but also because they could challenge the municipal routine of weighing various objectives against each other. Furthermore, despite WFD-related increases in ambition levels, lack of resource improvements at the municipal level were identified as potential problems by local environmental planners.

This article presents an empirical analysis of textbooks for International Economics in upper secondary schools with a focus on moral responsibility for the environment and society. The purpose is to analyze the meanings offered to students regarding the scope of taking moral responsibility in relation to the role of a business person. Four different meanings are formulated as a result of the study: one states that a business only can take responsibility in order to obey laws and respond to consumer demands, a second and third meanings imply that, a business can make demands, to different extents, on subcontractors. A fourth meaning include that a business (apart from making profit) also can be a tool for change. The different meanings are discussed in relation to different functions of education (Biesta 2008, Säfström 2005) and Education for Sustainable Development. The main argument is that a tool for change-meaning, contributing to a subjectification function of education, ought to have an increased space in education, if we want students who are engaged in sustainability issues regarding the environment and the society also to see a future working within the business world. This is equally important if we want business students to see a future working for sustainable development.

The liver-X-receptors (LXRs) act as cholesterol sensors and participate in the regulation of lipid and cholesterol metabolism. The objective of this study was to determine the role of LXR during development using the zebrafish model. By in situ hybridization we showed distinct expression of lxr in the brain and the retina in the developing and adult zebrafish. Lxr ligand activation affected the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism in zebrafish adult brain and eye as well as in zebrafish embryos. Morpholino knock down of lxr resulted in an overall impaired lipid deposition as determined by oil red O staining particularly in the head and around the eyes, and to significantly elevated levels of both total and free cholesterol in the yolk of lxr morphant embryos. The expression of genes involved in lipid and cholesterol metabolism was also changed in the lxr morphants. Furthermore, alcian blue staining revealed malformation of the pharyngeal skeleton in the lxr morphant. Our data show that Lxr is an important component of the regulatory network governing the lipid homeostasis during zebrafish development, which in turn may support a role of Lxr for normal development of the central nervous sytem, including the retina.

The circular distribution of the willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus around the Baltic Sea shares many features with the classic examples of ring species; however, the system is much younger. It has previously been shown that a secondary contact zone is located in central Scandinavia, where there are narrow clines for several morphological traits coincident with a migratory divide. Here we analyse multiple traits and genes from > 1700 males captured on breeding territories at 77 sites spread around the Baltic Sea to test the following hypothesis. If the secondary contact zone in Scandinavia is a result of divergence in two allopatric refuge populations during the last glaciation, we expect to find a similar secondary contact zone somewhere else around the circular distribution. Our results show that the trait clines were wider and displaced from each other along the eastern side of the Baltic Sea. Analyses of 12 microsatellite loci confirmed that the genome is very similar between the terminal forms (F(ST) = 0). Two AFLP-derived markers filtered out from a genomic scan instead appear to be maintained by selection. These markers exhibited steep clines at the secondary contact zone in Scandinavia, but as for the phenotypic traits, had vastly different cline centres east of the Baltic Sea. The trait clines along the ring distribution outside the Scandinavian secondary contact zone thus seem to have been shaped by independent action of selection or drift during the process of postglacial colonization.

Metal pollution is viewed as a modern problem that began in the 19th century and accelerated through the 20th century; however, in many parts of the globe this view is wrong. Here, we studied past waterborne metal pollution in lake sediments from the Bergslagen region in central Sweden, one of many historically important mining regions in Europe. With a focus on lead (including isotopes), we trace mining impacts from a local scale, through a 120-km-long river system draining into Malaren - Sweden’s third largest lake, and finally also the Baltic Sea. Comparison of sediment and peat records shows that pollution from Swedish mining was largely waterborne and that atmospheric deposition was dominated by long-range transport from other regions. Swedish ore lead is detectable from the 10th century, but the greatest impact occurred during the 16th-18th centuries with improvements occurring over recent centuries, i.e., historical pollution > modern industrial pollution.

We tested whether differences in ploidy level and previous exposure to herbivory can affect plant tolerance to herbivory. We conducted a common garden experiment with 12 populations of two ploidy levels of the perennial herb Cardamine pratensis (five populations of tetraploid ssp. pratensis and seven populations of octoploid ssp. paludosa). Earlier studies have shown that attack rates by the main herbivore, the orange tip butterfly Anthocharis cardamines, are lower in populations of octoploids than in populations of tetraploids, and vary among populations. In the common garden experiment, a combination of natural and artificial damage significantly reduced seed and flower production. We measured tolerance based on four plant-performance metrics: survival, growth, seed production and clonal reproduction. For three of these measurements, tolerance of damage did not differ between ploidy levels. For clonal reproduction, the octoploids had a higher tolerance than the tetraploids, although they experience lower herbivore attack rates in natural populations. Populations from sites with high levels of herbivory had higher tolerance, measured by seed production, than populations with low levels of herbivory. We did not detect any significant costs of tolerance. We conclude that high intensity of herbivory has selected for high tolerance measured by seed production in C. pratensis.

Rapid evolutionary change is increasingly being recognized as commonplace, but the evolutionary consequences for species and ecosystems under human-induced selection regimes have not been explored in detail, although many species occur in such environments. In a common garden experiment and with amplified fragment length polymorphism markers, we examined whether genetic differentiation has taken place between spatially intermixed populations of creeping thistles Cirsium arvense (Asteraceae) collected from a natural habitat (maritime shores), a semi-natural habitat (road verges) and arable fields under two management regimes: conventional and organic farming. Populations of C. arvense have altered genetically and locally adapted their growth patterns with changed land use. Although plants from different habitats showed similar total biomass production, shoot and root production was higher for maritime populations, suggesting selection for increased competitive ability. Competitive ability then declined in the order semi-natural, conventional farms and organic farms. Thistles in arable fields may be more selected for tolerance against disturbances from herbicides and mechanical weed control. In addition, early shoot sprouting and genetic analysis showed differentiation between plants originating from conventional farms and farms that were converted to organic 9–30 years ago, suggesting some adaptation to altered crop cultivation practices

In the present study, we ask whether and how different organizations work with sustainable procurement and how this work relates to the complexity of the product chain. We have chosen to focus on chemical risks in relation to textiles – an issue that increasingly is becoming part of the public discourse and a target for journalists. In the case of textiles, the product chain from raw material to consumption often involves a great number of production steps, sub-contractors and users, often on a global scale. Sustainable management of the supply chain would improve health, quality of life, and labour conditions, for instance in the areas and factories in developing countries where production and processing often take place. However, such management faces great difficulties and challenges in terms of capabilities, knowledge, communication, and policy instruments. These difficulties are related to high uncertainties and other problems that in turn are related to the high complexity of global product chains. The objective of the present report is to gain insights into the opportunities and challenges that private and public organizations face regarding the development of responsible procurement in relation to a complex and uncertain issue. The report focuses on chemicals in textiles and uses a qualitative methodology with semi-structured interviews. Key elements of a pro-active, responsible procurement strategy are defined in the report and include criteria such as using a preventive, systematic, responsive, integrative, and reflective approach. The analysis includes the following topics: (i) priorities and knowledge, (ii) communicative strategies, (iii) policy instruments, (iv) monitoring and trust in relation to suppliers. The results show a fairly modest level of organizational responsibility, although it is possible to observe an initial positive development among the cases investigated. The report ends by suggesting a number of topics that require further investigation.

This paper reviews the current literature on political and ethical consumers, and relates it to the topic of sustainable food consumption. A first aim is to problematise a somewhat simplistic view of the political and ethical consumer found in the literature. The paper sheds light on some of the dilemmas that confront green political consumers. We indicate that most existing studies say very little about consumers’ thoughts, assumptions, and reflections about green consumerism in general, and about green consumerist tools, such as green labels, more specifically. Based on a literature review, we draw a picture of the typical concerned consumer as reflective, uncertain and ambivalent. This is connected to a second aim of the paper: to discuss a gap or mismatch between the production side and consumption side of green (food) labels. We conclude the paper by suggesting that green and ethical information schemes could become much more in line with the reflective nature of green, political consumers. We relate this discussion to concepts such as sub-politics and meta-politics.

We have seen a worldwide increase in new nonstate, multi-stakeholder organizations setting standards for socially and environmentally responsible behavior. These standard-setting arenas offer new channels for political participation for NGOs. Scholars have drawn attention to the rise and the role of NGOs in global politics, but there is less research on the power and long-term implications of NGO participation in transnational multi-stakeholder standard-setting. This article analyzes NGOs within three such global organizations: the Forest Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the International Organization for Standardization on Social Responsibility. Using a power-based perspective, we demonstrate the impact that NGOs can have on multi-stakeholder work. In doing so, we analyze four types of NGO power: symbolic, cognitive, social, and monitoring power. The article further emphasizes institutional, structural, and discursive factors within multi-stakeholder organizations that create certain challenges to NGO power and participation in the longer term.

Swedish agriculture has gone through major changes of practices in the last century. Traditional haymaking and grazing have almost ceased and the land-use change is causing a loss of habitat for many plants and animals. These semi-natural landscapes belong to the most diverse plant communities in Sweden and many pastures and meadows are threatened by overgrowth. In this paper, I study the Jämtland County Administrative Board´s monitoring of the endangered Black Vanilla Orchid (Gymnadenia nigra) which is a grassland species in sharp decline. The study is based on interviews with employees of the Jämtland County Administrative Board and on the inventory data that has been gathered in the monitoring project. I have evaluated if the collected data can fulfil the original purpose of the monitoring project. I have studied and analysed the data and monitoring methodology in relation to scientific advice, and performed statistical tests. I have found that the monitoring method was unsuccessful in addressing the underlying purpose. In combination with the short period of monitoring, it is not possible to evaluate the effect of management and other environmental variables on the status of G. nigra.

Parmelioid lichens are a diverse and ubiquitous group of foliose lichens. Generic delimitation in parmelioid lichens has been in a state of flux since the late 1960s with the segregation of the large, heterogeneous genus Parmelia into numerous smaller genera. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies have demonstrated that some of these new genera were monophyletic, some were not, and others, previously believed to be unrelated, fell within single monophyletic groups, indicating the need for a revision of the generic delimitations. This study aims to give an overview of current knowledge of the major clades of all parmelioid lichens. For this, we assembled a dataset of 762 specimens, including 31 of 33 currently accepted parmelioid genera (and 63 of 84 accepted genera of Parmeliaceae). We performed maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of combined datasets including two, three and four loci. Based on these phylogenies and the correlation of morphological and chemical characters that characterize monophyletic groups, we accept 27 genera within nine main clades. We re-circumscribe several genera and reduce Parmelaria to synonymy with Parmotrema. Emodomelanelia Divakar & A. Crespo is described as a new genus (type: E. masonii). Nipponoparmelia (Kurok.) K.H. Moon, Y. Ohmura & Kashiw. ex A. Crespo & al. is elevated to generic rank and 15 new combinations are proposed (in the genera Flavoparmelia, Parmotrema, Myelochroa, Melanelixia and Nipponoparmelia). A short discussion of the accepted genera is provided and remaining challenges and areas requiring additional taxon sampling are identified.

A multiple regression model was used to analyse if the structure of vegetation and soil patches in grazed units (pastures) can be used as explanatory variables to predict the prevalence of Dicrocoelium dendriticum, a common parasite of cattle and sheep, in grazing cattle stocks on the Baltic island of land in southern Sweden. The scale dependency was evaluated by comparing three levels of spatial resolution of patches. Prevalence data were obtained from slaughtered animals. Our models predict that the prevalence of D. dendriticum increases in grazed areas with woody vegetation, whereas moist and wet areas decrease parasite prevalence. The predictive power of the statistical models increased with increasing level of patch resolution. Approximately 42% of the variation in parasite prevalence (angular transformation) was explained by the areal proportion of vegetation types (4th-root-transformed). Based on the results obtained, we believe that our model strategy provides a rational and systematic tool to identify habitats that carry risk for D. dendriticum infection of ruminants, and that it can be applied to other parasites with similar life cycles such as Fasciola hepatica.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a flavivirus with major impact on global health. The geographical TBEV distribution is expanding, thus making it pivotal to further characterize the natural virus populations. In this study, we completed the earlier partial sequencing of a TBEV pulled out of a pool of RNA extracted from 115 ticks collected on Torö in the Stockholm archipelago. The total RNA was sufficient for all sequencing of a TBEV genome (Torö-2003), without conventional enrichment procedures such as cell culturing or suckling mice amplification. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the genome of TBEV has been sequenced directly from an arthropod reservoir. The Torö-2003 sequence has been characterized and compared with other TBE viruses. In silico analyses of secondary RNA structures formed by the two untranslated regions revealed a temperature-sensitive structural shift between a closed replicative form and an open AUG accessible form, analogous to a recently described bacterial thermoswitch. Additionally, novel phylogenetic conserved structures were identified in the variable part of the 3'-untranslated region, and their sequence and structure similarity when compared with earlier identified structures suggests an enhancing function on virus replication and translation. We propose that the thermo-switch mechanism may explain the low TBEV prevalence often observed in environmentally sampled ticks. Finally, we were able to detect variations that help in the understanding of virus adaptations to varied environmental temperatures and mammalian hosts through a comparative approach that compares RNA folding dynamics between strains with different mammalian cell passage histories.

This article addresses the relationship between scientific expertise and policy in European chemicals regulation. We argue that the role of scientific expertise in the European regulation of chemicals varies across decision-making levels, countries, and stages of the policy process. Our case study of the role of scientific expertise in the regulation of brominated flame retardants illustrates considerably different manifestations of this interconnected process across regulatory arenas, even though this case concerns a single group of substances. On the European Union level, we find a mix of technocracy and politicization; in Sweden, a clear-cut politicization; and in Poland, noninvolvement. Such differences can be explained by a combination of factors, in particular frame dominance, and mobilization of advocacy coalitions.

Maintaining species diversity, ecosystem functioning, and socioeconomic values requires continued ecosystem heterogeneity across scales. This thesis aims to bridge gaps between ecological theory, environmental goals, and practical application of sustainable forest management needed to maintain such heterogeneity. Included case studies of boreal Sweden concern three challenges in the cross-scale understanding of heterogeneity: matrix qualities and composition; acquiring and incorporating historical information; and interactions between forest composition and management. Paper I cover three large-scale forest companies in four boreal counties today, outlining available information on matrix qualities and composition from the companies. Papers II-III cover the village scale from 1720s–1850s–present in Dalarna County and papers IV-V the parish scale from 1860s–present in the same county. Geographic Information Systems were used to integrate historical maps with present data, perform spatiotemporal analyses, and extract data for statistical testing in primarily generalized linear models. For the practical realization of sustainable forest management, the results indicate a need for further monitoring across scales to understand matrix composition, especially in relation to small voluntary reservations in a larger spatiotemporal perspective. Historical material can provide information on temporal connectivity and spatial separation between the past and present forest composition from analysis of change trajectories respectively interacting variables. This thesis suggests that models of forest dynamics are more relevant for local implementation of sustainable forest management efforts if including interactions between forest dynamics and ownership as an approximate driver of local change.

Habitats of Swedish conservation interests are in general small and fragmented following the extensive and intensive forest management history. This study covering 71 000 ha of boreal Sweden investigates how history influences present-day distribution and composition of forests identified as high conservation value habitats and how they are protected. We also investigated if the habitat criteria used to describe reservations differed between reservation types and if habitat criteria were associated with the size of Woodland Key Habitats. The results show strong effects from historical ownership and historical forest type on the probability of an area being set aside as formally protected or as voluntary protected Woodland Key Habitats. We also found that both formal reservations and Woodland Key Habitats primarily cover coniferous forest in the age interval 70-110 years but not the presumably most valuable oldest coniferous category >110 or deciduous forests, which are as common in reservations as in other areas. Old deciduous forests (>110 years) are significantly more rare in formal reservations compared to the forest matrix. When viewed in a context of fragmentation and edge effects the results underline the importance of evaluating reserved areas and Woodland Key Habitats in a wider temporal and larger spatial perspective to optimize conservation management efforts. Maximal representation and biodiversity can be better achieved if new reservations are chosen to represent different ownership and forest history, and if they are selected in a landscape context related to present reservations and the present surrounding production forest.

In this study we reconstruct forest composition during the 1860s for a 71000 ha area in southern boreal Sweden. The aim is to show how historical ownership and associated anthropogenic disturbances act as a source of heterogeneity in the present-day distribution and composition of coniferous and deciduous forest within the commercial production forest. We use older (>110 years) and mature (70-110 years) forest as response variables in generalized linear models with a binominal error distribution. The explanatory variables include size of zone, historical type of ownership zone (village, company, and farm), amount of forest, and forest type. We focus in particular on investigating effects from interacting explanatory variables. The significant statistical associations in the study indicate that patterns of deciduous and coniferous older patches differ, and that deciduous patches differ in relation to age interval. The oldest deciduous patches, for example, are today more likely on areas that had deciduous cover also in the past and stood on forestland managed by farmers, but less likely on the same habitat managed by companies. We show that there are strong effects on present forest composition from historical ownership and forest composition. We argue that by including local data on past ownership combined with knowledge on use patterns management could be better adapted to local landscape dynamics compared to the application of overly generalized patterns or models of boreal dynamics that excludes interactions with management.

The process of recreating historical land cover dynamics, needed to nderstand trends and transient states in ecosystems, includes ifficulties such as the sensitivity of applied spatial analyses to eterogeneities in historical material. This paper compares the handling f quantitatively dominating categories in two matrix analyses of land over change within a Swedish boreal landscape (1725-1859). The focus is n how inconsistencies between historical maps can be handled without iolating the inherent semantic potential. The study shows that analyses f land cover support different indications of change depending on the reatment of dominating categories. The type of landscape and research uestions in focus should therefore be part of choosing matrix method nd classification scheme. The observed patterns need to be evaluated gainst drivers of change and semantic plasticity in classification chemes to separate ecological change from semantic confusion. This aper recommends aggregated classification schemes with maintained riginal relationships between categories in comprehensive analyses. owever, no pathway is persistent over time and categories should be llowed to disappear and new to appear. Analysis of historical dynamics ith extended transition matrixes is recommended to account for the ynamics of small categories in relation to dominating categories within landscape.

We combine historical maps and satellite derived data to reconstruct the development of a Swedish boreal landscape over the past 300 years. The aim is to understand legacies from past use patterns in present-day forest composition and consequences for conservation objectives from a landscape perspective. We analyze landscape development in cross-tabulation matrixes, building change trajectories. These trajectories are tested in linear models to explain the distribution of present-day landscape composition of coniferous, mixed, and deciduous forests >110 years. Of 49 tested change trajectories, 11 showed a significant association. Associations for mixed and coniferous forests were similar and linked to characteristics such as forest continuity, which characterized the studied landscape. Deciduous older forests did not show any association to forest continuity but were more likely to occur on areas that specifically shifted from forests with grazing in the 1720s to open impediment (likely indicating low tree coverage) in the 1850s. There were large shifts and spatial redistribution in ownerships over time. Use patterns and legacies varied between small- and large-scale ownership categories as well as within small-scale categories. The legacies found in the study indicate a complex origin of heterogeneous landscape elements such as older deciduous forests. Additionally, the origin of the legacies indicates a potential need to diversify conservation management based on the influence of past use patterns. Despite large inconsistencies in historical and contemporary data we argue that this type of analysis could be used to further understand the distribution of landscape elements important for conservation objectives.

Stakeholder participation is increasingly seen as central in natural resource management. It is also required by the European Union Water Framework Directive, which identifies three levels of participation; information, consultation, and active involvement. In this paper we discuss the active involvement of stakeholders, using our experience from a case study in the Himmerfjarden region, which is a coastal area southwest of Stockholm, Sweden. Our study used the systems approach proposed by the European Union research project called Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessment (SPICOSA), in which local stakeholders and a study site team constructed an integrated simulation model of a crucial coastal management issue. In this case the issue was nitrogen enrichment. We showed how stakeholder participation in the modeling process helped identify interesting and currently relevant management scenarios, and how the modeling process facilitated communication of the likely ecological, economic, and social effects of these scenarios to the stakeholders. In addition, stakeholders also reported social gains in terms of network building. We managed to actively involve local stakeholders in water issues, and the research process clearly strengthened the social capital in the Himmerfjarden region, and created a basis for future collaboration regarding water management. Our experience indicates that the approach we tried is a useful tool for promoting active stakeholder involvement in water management projects. Also, the results of our science and policy integration approach indicated that the study site team assumed a leadership role, which is a commonly recognized factor in successful natural resource management.

Environmental risk governance in the Baltic Sea area is still unable to fully support implementation of the ecosystem approach to management. Hence, the aims of the international RISKGOV project were: 1) to improve our understanding of environmental risk governance and its challenges in the Baltic Sea; 2) to suggest possible avenues for improvement.

These aims were addressed by integrating social and natural science approaches on five strategically selected environmental risks (eutrophication, overfishing, invasive species, chemical pollution and oil discharges).

The findings, recommendations and dissemination products of RISKGOV are described in detail in the Final report (http://www.sh.se/riskgov). Researchers from Södertörn University were involved in all case studies and cross-case comparisons. In summary, RISKGOV concludes that it is necessary to improve the robustness and responsiveness of governance practices to achieve sustainable ecosystem management. Specifically, RISKGOV recommends that: (i) Governance structures need to move towards more reflexive governance by improving regulatory coordination, cross sector collaboration, and interaction space for reflexivity. This is, for example, exemplified by increased interactions between HELCOM and the EU aiming at the combination of mandatory regulation and voluntary agreements; (ii) Assessment-management interactions require improvements e.g. relating to the regional and interdisciplinary knowledge-base, stakeholder participation and coping with scientific uncertainty and disagreement; (iii) Stakeholder participation and communication require improvements in terms of a more integrated system of stakeholder input possibly via an expansion of HELCOM’s stakeholder involvement policy and enhanced efforts to communicate environmental issues to the general public. Implications of these general recommendations for specific actors and stakeholders were analysed and developed through thematic roundtable discussions.

This report has been produced within the interdisciplinary RISKGOV project with the overall aim of comparing risk assessment – risk management interactions connected with five severe Baltic Sea environmental risks (eutrophication, overfishing, invasive species, chemical pollution and oil discharges linked to marine transports).

Specifically, we compare three major aspects connected with assessment  – management interactions and, based on this analysis, suggest possible routes for improving interaction between science-based advice and environmental (risk) management:

1. Organisational structure of the risk assessment activities and the generation, selection and implementation of management options.
2. The management of scientific uncertainties and disagreements.
3. Implementation of the ecosystem approach to management (EAM) and modes of ‘good governance’.

In order to understand these aspects we started by describing and analysing the characteristics of the five risk cases. This revealed substantial differences in terms of sources, effects and complexities (in terms of scientific uncertainty and socio-political ambiguity). For example, chemical risks are associated with great uncertainty and oil spill with much lower; fisheries relate to very high socio-political ambiguity, whereas invasive species show the opposite nature and oil spill fit with more traditional risk parameters. Our analysis also revealed a great variation in the societal risk responses, which far from always seems rational in relation to the risk characteristics.

When it comes to the organisational structures, we can conclude that different forms of institutions and institutional arrangements and relations have evolved over time in the various cases, for instance relatively well-formalised in the overfishing case, and rather informal for combating eutrophication. Similarly, we see different forms of expert dependencies. In the overfishing case there are institutionalised formal links between e.g. ICES and the EU Commission and the historic path-dependency is quite strong, thereby causing institutional inertia, even though the development of Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) such as the Baltic RAC are gradually changing the picture. In relation to many other environmental risk cases (e.g. eutrophication and chemicals) HELCOM provides a regional basis for assessment and management (although implementation of management recommendations have often proved complex). Still, assessment-management interactions seem more developed and better organised in the overfishing case, even though it is obvious that the last link, the political decision-making on quotas, has deviated substantially from the science-based advice, thereby opening for continued overfishing. Similarly, well-developed institutions seem to allow for improved deliberative processes for fisheries, including improved analysis of socio-economic dimensions, which we cannot find to the same extent for e.g. chemicals, eutrophication and invasive species.

The assessment and management responses we see to the studied risks do not seem to be based on any thorough analysis of the specific risk characteristics, or on the suitability of different overall strategies (e.g. traditional science-based assessment, precautionary, deliberative). Instead, all studied assessment-management interactions can be classified as being built primarily on traditional science-based assessment of risks. Of course, we see elements of for example precaution in e.g. the chemicals case, and deliberation in the fish case, and the inclusion of the EAM as a starting point for assessment exercises and management decisions is becoming more common, but overall this happens only partially and infrequently.

Thus, to summarise, we conclude that there are substantial differences among environmental risks in relation to, for example, complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity, and we argue that it is important to maintain a balance between ideals of holistic approaches such as EAM and context dependent requirements of various management objectives, environmental risks and sectors. For example, high levels of uncertainty (e.g. chemical pollution) and ambiguity (e.g. overfishing) can be assumed to require assessment-management approaches focussed on precaution and participatory deliberation, respectively.

Furthermore, our analysis identifies six key issues and challenges that, if adequately addressed, may improve assessment-management interactions and facilitate the implementation of the ecosystem approach to management.

1. We see a need to further develop the regional and ecosystem basis of assessment-management interactions in terms of addressing prioritised knowledge gaps, as well as developing regional knowledge management and monitoring to strengthen regionally-based scientific advice.

2. Integration of various forms of scientific knowledge is currently rather undeveloped in assessment and scientific advice, which reduces possibilities of addressing also the social dimension of sustainable development as well as possibilities of identifying and reducing ‘blind spots’.

3. Stakeholder participation requires more consideration since incorporation of practitioner and local knowledge in risk assessments as well as stakeholder deliberation in risk management often are vital for the successful implementation of the ecosystem approach to management.

4. We identify substantial room for improvements linked to coping with scientific uncertainty and disagreement in both risk assessment and risk management. We conclude that there in fact are examples of science-based precautionary approaches and methods, but that a comprehensive and coherent strategy for addressing uncertainty is often lacking.

5. Interdependencies among environmental risk issues need to be more specifically addressed than today. Climate change will, for example, influence both the outcome of risk assessments as well as the possibilities for successful management in all the studied environmental risk cases.

6. Despite a commonly expressed idea of a clear separation between assessment and management, the studied science-policy interactions are in general rather diffuse and politicised. This lack of transparency about how these interactions evolve and are constructed may mislead political decision makers and the public and thus potentially hamper management progress.

Renewable energy technique is increasing in popularity and usage. But the world´s current energy consumption is extensively uneven, and 1,6 billion people still live without access to electricity. The domestic work in rural areas is often very time and energy consuming; fetching water alone can take up to 5 hours or more per day. Due to gender inequality, women are the most responsible for the drudgery household work in rural areas in developing countries. Hence, women are more and worsely affected from the lack of access to electricity than men. Access to electricity can reduce the time consuming domestic chores with several hours per day. It can also benefit women´s empowerment, because all the extra time can provide new possibilities and freedoms. Rural women´s electricity needs are summarized by ENERGIA and UNDP. The needs can be divided in; mills for grinding, water pumps, indoor and street lighting and power for TV, radio, small enterprises etc. Solar power is an interesting alternative since it functions just as good off-grid and can be quickly installed. Solar powered waterpumps are a very good alternative whilst solar grinding mills are too cost intensive. Solar power provides affordable indoor and street lighting alternatives, thus street lighting can vary greatly in price. Solar power works good with smaller loads which requires constant power, such as a small refrigerator or a radio. The larger the loads, the greater the expences, so for large enterprices solar power is not yet a viable option. Hence, access to electricity is not enough, empowerment is just as important for women in order to actually gain more freedoms instead of more working hours due to extended hours of evening light.

In this book Artur Granstedt - Ph.D. in Agronomics and Associate Professor at Södertörn University, and Coordinator of the BERAS project (Baltic Ecological Recycling Agriculture and Society) - describes how ecologically adapted farming based on local recycling and renewable energy sources can reduce the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and even help to reduce global warming. Widespread conversion to organic farming methods would furthermore stop the spread of toxic chemicals on farmland, benefit biodiversity and stimulate social and economic development in rural areas in the Baltic Sea region.

The book starts with a description of the ecosystems that support the health of the biosphere - terrestrial and marine, the climate, and global food production. Granstedt also gives a historical overview of agricultural practices, noting the various ways in which human activity alters the natural order of things and, if we are not mindful, can deplete the resources that support our existence. But he also gives examples of how we can turn negative trends to the better, how we can restore fertility to the soil and bring depleted land to bloom once again and produce nourishing food that can feed the world.

Artur Granstedt writes on the basis of decades of experience as an organic farmer, researcher, adviser and teacher of ecologically sustainable agriculture. The book reports the results of field trials and evaluation on farms in eight countries around the Baltic Sea that were conducted in the BERAS project. This comprehensive project, which was supported in part by funding from the European Union, is now continuing in an implementation phase, focusing on how agriculture throughout the region can be converted to profitable and ecologically sustainable methods of production.

The publication of this book has been made possible through a grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to the BERAS project at Södertörn University and the Biodynamic Research Institute in Järna, and funding from the Swedish Government and the Swedish Research Council, Formas.

Artur Granstedt, agronomie doktor, docent vid Södertörns högskola och koordinator för Östersjöprojektet BERAS beskriver här hur ett ekologiskt jordbruk, baserat på lokala kretslopp och förnyelsebar energi, kan minska övergödningen av Östersjön och även bidra till att minska den globala uppvärmningen. Det kan dessutom förhindra spridningen av kemiska bekämpningsmedel, gynna den biologiska mångfalden och stimulera social och ekonomisk landsbygdsutveckling i Östersjöområdet.

Boken inleds med en beskrivning av de livsuppehållande ekosystemen och deras betydelse för jorden, havet, klimatet och vår mat. Författaren ger också en överblick över odlandets historia: hur vi människor griper in och förändrar det naturgivna och hur vi på kort tid kan förbruka det som naturen byggt upp. Han visar också på hur vi kan odla jord, skapa ökad bördighet, få jorden att blomstra och ge närande mat åt alla.

Till grund för boken ligger Artur Granstedts mångåriga arbete med odling, forskning, rådgivning och undervisning i ekologiskt jordbruk. Här redovisas också resultat från studier av det rent praktiska arbetet på ett antal gårdar, dokumenterade och utvärderade i åtta länder i det av EU delfinansierade Östersjöprojektet BERAS (Baltic Ecological Recycling Agriculture and Society). Detta arbete drivs nu vidare med fokus på hur en omläggning av jordbruket kan ske i hela Östersjöregionen i fortsättningsprojektet BERAS Implementation.

Bokens utgivning har finansierats av Europeiska regionala utvecklingsfonden (ERUF) inom ramen för Östersjöprojektet BERAS vid Södertörns högskola samt Biodynamiska Forskningsinstitutet i Järna med bidrag från den svenska regeringen via det statiliga forskningsrådet Formas.

The effects of the strobilurin fungicide azoxystrobin were studied in rackish water microcosms, with natural plankton communities and ediment. Two experiments were conducted: Experiment 1 (nominal conc. 0, 5 and 60 mu g/L, 24-L outdoor microcosms for 21 days) and a second, ollow-up, Experiment 2 (nominal conc. 0, 3, 7.5, 15 mu g/L, 4-L indoor icrocosms for 12 days). The microcosms represent a simplified brackish ater community found in shallow semi-enclosed coastal areas in gricultural districts in the Baltic Sea region. Measured water oncentrations of the fungicide (Experiment 1) were, on average, 83 and 2% of nominal concentrations directly after application, and 25 and 30% fter 21 days, for the low and high dose treatments, respectively, orresponding to mean DT50-values of 15.1 and 25.8 days, for low and igh dose treatments, respectively. In Experiment 1, direct toxic ffects on calanoid copepods at both test concentrations were observed. imilarly, in Experiment 2, the copepod abundance was significantly educed at all tested concentrations. There were also significant econdary effects on zooplankton and phytoplankton community structure, tanding stocks and primary production. Very few ecotoxicological tudies have investigated effects of plant protection products on Baltic rganisms in general and effects on community structure and function pecifically. Our results show that azoxystrobin is toxic to brackish ater copepods at considerably lower concentrations than previously eported from single species tests on freshwater crustaceans, and that irect toxic effects on this ecologically important group may lead to ascade effects altering lower food webs and ecosystem functioning.