Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe have attracted increasing interest from researchers from various disciplines. This book gathers researchers from the humanities, the social and natural sciences, who in their respective ways, and from a wide range of perspectives, attempt to come to grips with the challenges that the region poses for research.

För 150 år sedan bodde större delen av Sveriges befolkning på landsbygden och var sysselsatta i primärnäringarna, men under de senaste 120 åren har den svenska landsbygden genomgått en kraftfull strukturomvandling. idag är det endast 15% av Sveriges befolkning som bor utanför någon av Sveriges tätorter. Det vill säga 85% av befolkningen bor på 1,3 procent av landarealen och ytterst få är sysselsatta i de gröna näringarna. Den pågående omstruktureringen av lantbruket innebär att många av de mindre gårdarna läggs ned och blir fritidshus eller hästgårdar. Samtidigt som nötkreaturen minskar i antal ökar antalet hästar och Sverige har blivit ett av de hästtätaste länderna i Europa.

Ungefär en halv miljon svenskar rider regelbundet och närmare en tredjedel av alla invånare i Sverige har på något sätt kontakt med hästar och de olika verksamheter som de ger upphov till. Denna ökning av sporthästar är särskilt märkbar i tätortsnära områden. I Stockholm och Uppsala län finns omkring 44 000 hästar och ca 78% av dessa finns i urbana eller tätortsnära områden. Hästarna har till viss del blivit landsbygdens räddning. hästar behöver mat, husrum och livsutrymme, vilket har skapat en välkommen extra inkomstkälla för lantbruket. Det är relativt vanligt att lantbrukare producerar och säljer hästfoder eller hyr ut stallplatser. Enligt lantbrukarnas Riksförbund, är hästnäringen den femte största inkomstkällan för jordbruket.  Hästen är även på andra sätt en viktig resurs i arbetet med att utveckla nya former för jordbruksföretagande och bidra till en levande landsbygd. Det ökande antalet hästar medför mer arbete för veterinärer, hovslagare och tränare/instruktörer. Dessutom växer det fram nya yrkesgrupper med specialinriktning mot hästar. Syftet med den här studien är att belysa kvinnliga hästföretagares syn på tätortsnära hästverksamheter och diskutera svårigheter och möjligheter för utvecklingen av hästnäringen med fokus på Stockholm- och Uppsalaområdet.

In this case study of Swedish boreal forestry, we analyze the implementation in practical management of a sustainable forest management that includes the continued capacity of ecosystems to also provide non-timber services. In the Swedish national forest policy, the equal goals of timber production and biodiversity conservation have increased the responsibility of landowners and managers to modify practical management. We compiled written information from three larger FSC-certified forestry companies combined with semi-structured interviews with forest management personnel at regional offices to map what data and information the companies collect and use. We examined to what extent obtainable information from the forest companies captures composition, structure, and function of boreal ecosystems at patch, stand and landscape scale. This was done using 47 indicators compiled from literature and grouped into five categories based on nationally identified deficiencies in the managed boreal forest compared to unmanaged forest. We found that the recording of data describing different aspects of the forest ecosystem were separated in two largely uncoordinated systems, Ecological Landscape Plans and stand registers. While there is a need for conservation-oriented data across scales, collected statistics was largely production-oriented and related to the stand scale. We also identified information gaps regarding different ecosystem structures and their spatial distribution such as dead wood and habitat networks. The knowledge base available to future management decisions also seems to lack information on connectivity in the landscape, habitat at smaller spatial scales and the effectiveness of reserved areas. To reach the ecological goals of sustainable forest management, there is a need to further coordinate existing data and information but also to fill gaps in particular regarding cross-scale information.

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.

Local stakeholder participation in water management is emphasized in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). Wetland creation to mitigate nutrient leakage from agriculture is one example where participation of local farmers is needed. In this case study of the Himmerfjärden coastal catchment area, south of Stockholm, Sweden, we assessed both the importance of several demo-graphic factors, and of the main subsidy factors in the present Agri-Environmental Scheme (AES) for their effects on farmers’ willingness to create wetlands on their farms. The farm and farmer characteristics analyzed were age, gender, knowledge of the WFD, education, farm size, land ownership, current measures to reduce nutrient leakage and trust for other actors. The main factors from the AES were defined as five attributes in a discrete choice experiment approach related to the current agri-environmental policy instrument for wetland creation applied in the area. The results showed that approximately 30 % of the farmers were interested in wetland creation at their farms. The most common reason for not wanting to create a wetland was economic cost. Males were significantly more willing than females to create wetlands. Younger farmers were significantly more willing than older. Prior knowledge of the WFD increased willingness almost threefold, and land owners were significantly more willing than leaseholders. The choice experiment showed that higher cost ceiling for subsidies, higher compensation percentage and higher annual subsidies can significantly increase the willingness to create wetlands. However to attract also the remaining 70% of all farmers to join the AES we must look at other options than only using action based AES.

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) promotes a change of European water governance towards increased stakeholder participation and water management according to river basins. To implement the WFD, new institutional arrangements are needed. In Sweden, water councils have been established on the local level to meet the requirements of the WFD of a broad stakeholder involvement in water management. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge on institutional arrangements for meeting the WFD requirements on stakeholder participation in local water management. A case study of two adjacent catchments in southern Sweden is presented to analyze how institutional legacy affect organizational arrangements and stakeholder participation. Based on literature studies and semi-structure interviews, the case study is analyzed with special emphasis on the scope, the organization and the activities in practical water management in catchments. The result shows different institutional arrangements for water management, despite similarities of the catchments' characteristics and the regulatory framework on national and regional level.The study identifies four important factors regarding institutional arrangements for water councils and local stakeholder participation in water management. Firstly, an organization involving key stakeholders that are committed to the scope and goals of the water council and willing to provide resources for the implementation of the planned activities. Secondly, institutional arrangements that include a willingness for flexibility and awareness of the need to include the most relevant stakeholders. Thirdly, a clear leadership to drive the process to realize the specific goals and assess the outcome. Fourthly, voluntary involvement of farmers to take part in the implementation of the measures and contribute with knowledge and experiences regarding local conditions.

Stakeholder participation is increasingly important in water governance worldwide. In Europe, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires Member states to encourage the active involvement of stakeholders in planning and implementation of the WFD. In Sweden, eutrophication is one of the major water quality problems, which is primarily caused by diffuse nutrient leakage from agriculture. Farmers are, therefore, increasingly invited to participate in local water groups to discuss potential local action to mitigate nutrient leakage. This paper presents the lessons learnt from two Swedish catchments, where farmers and other local stakeholders participated in local water groups. Both catchments have severe eutrophication problems, and have been pointed out as “hot-spots” for wetland creation as mitigation measure. The overall aim of this study was to identify farmers’ primary concerns regarding local water management and wetland creation in particular. The results were based on data from meeting observation, interviews and a questionnaire. The paper identified four major aspects: (i) farmers’ concern about the commitment of other actors in local action plans; (ii) farmers desired improved information on local water management, monitoring of water quality, as well as improved information on wetland creation; (iii) farmers were concerned about phosphorus scarcity, and were interested in wetlands as phosphor traps; and, (iv) farmers requested developments in catchment-based platforms. Therefore, the paper suggests that organization of water management at catchment level could play an important role to cope with farmers’ primary concerns: Catchment platforms should disseminate information on local water management, identify information and data gaps, distribute responsibilities and commitment, enhance incentives for farmers’ commitment and enable trust-building. Consideration of these aspects could lead towards more robust forms for participation, inducing action and, consequently, improved water quality.

Management of salmonids at local and regional levels in the Baltic, Sea is best analyzed by viewing the Baltic region as a complex social-ecological system. The ecosystem approach, now in an implementation phase in the Baltic Sea region, provides a framework for understanding interdependencies between resources, ecosystems and society, and examining management trade-offs. This study focuses on application of the ecosystem approach to management of two salmonids: the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar fishery in the Baltic Sea region and the brown trout S. trutta recreational fishery in Stockholm archipelago, Sweden. These cases provide illustrative examples of some current trend!; and key challenges for sustainable salmonidae management. The Baltic Sea has low biodiversity and Atlantic salmon is one of the few commercially or recreationally important fish species. In this region, fish resources and the ecosystems they depend on are shared by nine coastal nations. The different salmon populations spawn in their native rivers but mix in offshore areas where they are harvested by national fishing fleets. In the Baltic, a number of factors have impacted wild salmon populations. Hydropower development in the Baltic coastal states has led to declines in wild salmon populations and, to compensate, annual stocked fish releases. In attractive coastal areas such as the Stockholm archipelago in Sweden, increased recreational fishing has led to a shift in user patterns from small-scale commercial fisheries by islanders towards a heterogeneous group of visiting recreational fishers. Efforts to reorganize fisheries management institutions in the Baltic Sea region indicate the need to consider the full range of user groups, develop coherent multilevel management institutions, and achieve a better understanding of the role of diverse fish populations in the ecosystem.

In this article, focusing on the ongoing implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, we analyze some of the opportunities and challenges for a sustainable governance of water resources from an ecosystem management perspective. In the face of uncertainty and change, the ecosystem approach as a holistic and integrated management framework is increasingly recognized. The ongoing implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) could be viewed as a reorganization phase in the process of change in institutional arrangements and ecosystems. In this case study from the Northern Baltic Sea River Basin District, Sweden, we focus in particular on data and information management from a multi-level governance perspective from the local stakeholder to the River Basin level. We apply a document analysis, hydrological mapping, and GIS models to analyze some of the institutional framework created for the implementation of the WFD. The study underlines the importance of institutional arrangements that can handle variability of local situations and trade-offs between solutions and priorities on different hierarchical levels.

The authors analyze sustainable cultural landscapes through the lens of ecosystem services. Their case study focuses on transformation of the peri-urban landscape of the Stockholm region, Sweden. Peri-urban landscapes are characterized by diversified and fragmented land uses that are strongly related to urban lifestyles. The rapidly increasing trend for recreational horse keeping is replacing traditional agriculture. Horse keepers’ and local government perspectives on horse keeping are examined, as well as the related demand for ecosystem services, which affects the landscape. The article is based on government documents, interviews with local government officials, and field visits to 16 horse-keeping facilities in two municipalities. Horse keeping was found important for sustaining cultural ecosystem services related to a rural cultural landscape and for maintaining traditional agriculture that provides provisioning ecosystem services. However, several differences between traditional agriculture and horse keeping that affect the demand for ecosystem services related to land use were found to shift the focus from provisioning services to recreational services. The authors conclude that horse keeping, as an emerging crosscutting issue in peri-urban landscapes, needs new more integrative planning processes that account for the full range of ecosystem services and links between cultural services and ecosystem functioning.

Moving towards sustainable ecosystem governance practices is potentially a complex and time consuming endeavour. The RISKGOV project identified three main governance challenges linked to implementing an ecosystem approach to management in the medium to long term time span (i.e. years to decades), that, if adequately addressed by actors and stakeholders, could help improve the governance of environmental problems and risks in the Baltic Sea ecosystem. Firstly, fostering a move towards reflexive and adaptive governance structures and processes by improving regulatory coordination, cross sector collaboration and forming spaces for interaction and dialogue. Secondly, strengthening the regional and ecosystem basis of knowledge generation and management is needed, including integration of various forms of scientific knowledge, stakeholder input, and increased attention to interdependencies among environmental problems and risks to better address uncertainties and disagreements. Thirdly, to develop a more integrated system of stakeholder input and communication, e.g. in the form of a “regional marine advisory council”, to face issues of inclusiveness, create a common concern for the Baltic ecosystem, improve the motivation and capacity, and improve coordination across scales and sectors.

In this paper, we address the implications of changing social-ecological feedback links for a sustainable management of coastal regions applying an ecosystem management perspective. This case study focuses on user patterns of fish resources in the Central Baltic Sea archipelago consisting of three sub-regions: Stockholm archipelago, Sweden, the Angstromland islands and the archipelago of SW Finland. The transition from a region, mainly relying on a mixture of local natural resources towards a region more dominated by the recreational demands of nearby large urban areas, has altered user patterns of fish resources. This transition has partly followed different pathways in the three sub-regions depending on how socio-economic driving forces have been manifested in management actions. Nevertheless, functioning ecosystems are still the basis for the delivery of ecosystem services and a living archipelago system. The significance of capturing and (re)building feedback links into management regarding knowledge on ecosystem services for a sustainable ecosystem management is discussed.

A crucial step towards realizing transdisciplinary understanding is to address transdisciplinary issues in university curricula, and to train students in critically analyzing and understanding disciplinary metaphors. We present an experimental exercise at Stockholm University with the aim of finding a constructive way to introduce transdisciplinary elements in disciplinary courses and thus increase student awareness of disciplinary metaphors. The exercise required a minimum of formal university decision procedures and thus circumvented the institutional barriers that tend to obstruct the establishment of full transdisciplinary programs.

In this article, we focus on documented and possible effects of fish stocking in terms of ecosystem services. The increasing use of fish stocking between 1970 and 2000 in the semiurban setting of Stockholm archipelago, Sweden, is used as case study. The objective is to analyze this management practice from an ecosystem perspective, accounting for both the ecological and social context of releasing fish. The results show that enhancements of four native species (Salmo S. trutta, Salmo salar, Stizostedion lucioperca, and Anguilla anguilla) have dominated over new introductions of one nonnative species. (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The major objective has been to increase fish catches for local resource users. Involved stakeholders include three management agencies, one hydropower company, and several local sport fishing associations. Documented effects focus on recapture and production rates. However, our analysis suggests that additional positive or negative effects on biodiversity, food web dynamics, mobile links, or ecological information may also result, with possible consequences for the long-term provision of food, game, and aesthetic values. We conclude that a more adaptive and cooperative management approach could benefit from a deeper analysis of where, when, and what species is released, by whom, which stakeholders that use the fish and those ecosystem services the fish generate, and of the role of formal and informal institutions for monitoring and evaluating the success of releasing fish.

In Sweden, local and regional planning practices are faced with the challenge of managing rapid growth in expansive urban regions. However, spatial planning should also contribute to the fulfilment of formalized sustainability objectives and support sustainable development. This includes addressing cross-cutting sustainability issues that transcend established administrative and territorial boundaries. Thus, the management of sustainability issues requires attention from actors at different levels, and challenges how contemporary planning practices plan for development. Based in the expansive Stockholm region, this study explores the cross-level interaction in spatial planning and decision-making and planning practitioners’ experiences and apprehensions of contemporary municipal planning practices with a focus on statutory plans to achieve sustainability targets and objectives. The results show that municipal planning organizations are under pressure because of rapid urban expansion. It is concluded that the role, format and content of statutory as well as informal planning instruments are decisive for the cross-level interaction between planning levels. Moreover, planning instruments find new trajectories resulting in mismatches in expectations from planners at adjacent planning levels. This influences the interplay and preconditions for achieving national and regional sustainability targets and objectives. 

As urban areas are developing and becoming increasingly important for dealing with sustainability goals and challenges, it is of the essence not to overlook the impacts created by the local, small-scale processes taking place across metropolitan regions. Based on a case study conducted in the expansive Stockholm region, this study explores the challenges associated with linking small-scale development to long-term overall strategy and development in municipal spatial planning. More specifically, it explores planning practitioners’ experiences of how local planning processes are organized to deal with established cross-cutting sustainability goals and the conditions for promoting sustainability in small-scale development projects. The results show that municipal planners face several organizational, procedural, and knowledge-related challenges that also influence the interplay between public and private actors in the process. To promote sustainable trajectories at the local level, it is necessary to devote resources and build capacity to further develop the relationship and interdependency between the processes of translation and formalization, which constitute an important link between the project-specific planning process and the overall strategy and development.

The quest for cogent responses to sustainability goals challenges local spatial planning practices across growing metropolitan regions to develop planning approaches that enable transformative capacity in increasingly complex settings. Based on a case study conducted in the Stockholm region, this paper explores the design and organization of local planning processes to provide a basis for a discussion of alternative approaches that may enhance sustainability in plan and project development. More specifically, it aims to analyze the conditions for embedding and consolidating sustainability issues in local planning processes. The results show that the municipalities need to create conditions for an effective interplay between the planning work carried out in individual projects and the organization of resources, knowledge, and skills on which the projects depend to handle sustainability issues. This study contributes to the understanding of the challenges associated with putting sustainability into practice at the local level by identifying and conceptualizing three important barriers. By acknowledging the temporal, locational, and procedural dimensions of knowledge in local planning processes, planning practices may become better at knowing when, and in what ways, different forms of knowledge can become created, introduced, and used in a synergistic manner to aid the realization of sustainability goals.

The quest for sustainable urban development requires innovative planning approaches more apt to cater for transformative action. Based on a case study approach, this study aims to explore the potential for local planning to develop practical approaches able to accelerate the transition towards sustainable urban development. To guide spatial development towards sustainability, the analysis of the results shows that local planners need to envision a process design as to advance the understanding of how a site or area can be developed. The act of process design involves pending between processes of contextualization (i.e. exploring five distinguishable domains of planning inquiry) and concretization (i.e. deciding upon a course of action by executing activities that form a process trajectory). Regarding the potential of local planning to develop transformative approaches, it is concluded that: (i) local planners possess capabilities that allow them to probe the future of places and produce insights about prospective change, (ii) the transformative capacity of local planning practices is bound to the development of the identified domains of planning inquiry and (iii) forthcoming evaluations organized around the act of process design can reveal insights regarding the possibilities to put the notion of sustainability into practice at the local level.

In 2017, ticks and field data were collected from 12 different sites in Stockholm County originally chosen as random controls for another study but was never used. In 2019, we collected ticks and field data at 35 randomly selected sites along the natural-urban gradient. To calculate and urbanization index, we used the proportion of artificial surfaces surrounding each site. All sampling sites were visited once with a total of 295 sampling plots inventoried for ticks and field data. For each sampling plot, we recorded date, time, temperature, weather conditions, number of ticks, vegetation height and tree stem density surrounding the inventory plot. To retrieve large landscape characteristics, we established 10 buffer zones ranging from 100m to 1000m around each sampling site in GIS using satellite land cover maps (retrieved from: https://www.naturvardsverket.se/verktyg-och-tjanster/kartor-och-karttjanster/nationella-marktackedata/ladda-ner-nationella-marktackedata/). These maps have a spatial resolution of 10m and include the following main categories 1) Forest and seminatural areas, 2) Open areas, 3) Arable land, 4) Wetlands, 5) Artificial surfaces and 6) Inland and marine water. These main categories are further divided into subcategories with detailed information regarding the different land cover classes. In the analyses, we used the main categories, with the exception of Forest and seminatural areas where we included eight individual forest types: Pine forest, Spruce forest, Mixed coniferous forest, Mixed forest, Broadleaved forest, Broadleaved hardwood forest, Broadleaved forest with hardwood forest and Temporarily non-forest. To calculate landscape configuration metrics at each sampling site, we used land cover data from the GIS buffers with a 1000m radius, exported to GeoTIFF format and analyzed them with FRAGSTATS version 4. For landscape heterogeneity we used Shannons’ diversity index (SHDI) and to measure the aggregation of landscape attributes we used Contagion (CONTAG). As measures of forest configuration, we used percent of forest cover (PLAND) and total forest edge length (TE). All statistical analyses were performed with R version 4.0.3. To analyze the effect of possible risk factors for tick abundance in different greenspaces across the natural-urban gradient, we used generalized linear mixed models assuming Poisson distributed residuals. As the data contained a larger proportion of zeros than would be expected according to a Poisson or a negative binomial distribution causing overdispersion, we fitted zero-inflated Poisson models using the package glmmTMB (generalized linear mixed models using Template Model Builder).

Background: Urban green spaces are important for human health, but they may expose visitors to tick-borne diseases. This not only presents a potential public health challenge but also undermines the expected public health gains from urban green spaces. The aim of this study is to assess the public health risk of tick-borne diseases in an urban green space used for recreation in Stockholm, Sweden.

Methods: We used a mixed method approach identifying both the magnitude of the tick hazard and the extent of the human exposure to tick-borne diseases. At six entry points to an urban green space, we sampled ticks and documented microhabitat conditions from five randomly assigned 2 m × 2 m plots. Surrounding habitat data was analyzed using geographical information system (GIS). Nymphs and adult ticks were tested for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasma phagocytophilum using TaqMan qPCR. Positive B. burgdorferi (s.l.) ticks were further analyzed by nested PCR amplification and sequence analysis. Population census data and visitor count data were used to estimate the degree of human exposure to tick-borne diseases. To further understand the degree to which visitors get in contact with infected ticks we also conducted interviews with visitors to green spaces.

Results: High tick densities were commonly found in humid broadleaved forest with low field vegetation. High pathogen prevalence was significantly correlated with increasing proportions of artificial areas. Integrating the tick hazard with human exposure we found that the public health risk of tick-borne diseases was moderate to high at most of the studied entry points. Many of the visitors frequently used urban green spaces. Walking was the most common activity, but visitors also engaged in activities with higher risk for tick encounters. Individual protective measures were connected to specific recreational activities such as picking berries or mushrooms.

Conclusions: The number of visitors can be combined with tick inventory data and molecular analyses of pathogen prevalence to make crude estimations of the public health risk of tick-borne diseases in urban green spaces. The risk of encountering infected ticks is omnipresent during recreational activities in urban green spaces, highlighting the need for public health campaigns to reduce the risk of tick-borne diseases.

To better understand the spatial distribution of the common tick Ixodes ricinus, we investigated how local site factors and landscape characteristics influence tick presence and abundance in different greenspaces along the natural-urban gradient in Stockholm County, Sweden. Ticks and field data were collected in 2017 and 2019 and analyzed in relation to habitat type distributions estimated from land cover maps using geographical information system (GIS). A total of 1378 (992 larvae, 370 nymphs, 13 females, and 3 males) questing ticks were collected from 295 sampling plots in 47 different greenspaces. Ticks were present in 41 of the 47 greenspaces and our results show that both local site features such as vegetation height, and landscape characteristics like the amount of mixed coniferous forest, significantly affect tick abundance. Tick abundance was highest in rural areas with large natural and seminatural habitats, but ticks were also present in parks and gardens in highly urbanized areas. Greenspaces along the natural-urban gradient should be included in surveillance for ticks and tick-borne diseases, including highly urbanized sites that may be perceived by the public as areas with low risk for tick encounters.

Landscape characteristics influence both vector and host habitats affecting the spatial and temporal distribution of vector-borne diseases. Anaplasma phagocytophilum is one of the most widespread tick-borne diseases in Europe causing tick-borne fever (TBF) in domestic ruminants, and granulocytic anaplasmosis in humans, horses and companion animals. The aim of this study was to identify landscape factors associated with Equine Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (EGA) cases in a refined temporal and spatial analysis by combining land cover data and presence/absence disease data, using a geographical information system (GIS). This study is a retrospective analysis utilizing 1030 EGA diagnostic test results extracted from the National Veterinary Institute (SVA, Sweden). The association between EGA and different land cover types was analyzed with generalized linear models. To analyze the relation between landscape heterogeneity and EGA, we calculated the Gini-Simpson index. Our results showed a significant increase in the proportion positive EGA cases from 2002 to 2015 and marked differences in the seasonal within year distribution of EGA cases. The association with landscape configuration is shown by the positive relationship between A. phagocytophilum and coniferous forest, water bodies, and landscape heterogeneity, respectively. The information on the eco-epidemiological drivers for EGA can be central for disease control and prevention. Our method of linking land cover to disease risk may be applied to other vector-borne diseases and to other study regions.

This case study from Stockholm County, Sweden, explores practitioners' experiences of barriers and bridges in municipal planning practices to support actions for ecosystem services. This qualitative study is based on information gathered from a focus group, workshops, and semi-structured interviews, which aided in identifying key factors for integrating ecosystem services in municipal planning. We identified 10 key factors divided into three themes: (i) regulatory framework and political support, (ii) local organizational capacity, and (iii) local adaptation of tools and practices. In particular, the practitioners pointed to the need for the development of legal support and regulations for ecosystem services on the national and EU policy levels. Furthermore, the need for local capacity building and understanding of ecosystem services as well as increased regional support to enhance local knowledge exchange and learning was emphasized. Also, in a decentralized local governance system such as in Sweden, to fully implement ecosystem services in urban planning for sustainable development, locally adapted practical tools and monitoring procedures were considered important.

Policies and planning processes related to land use play an important role in maintaining and developing ecosystem services. The incorporation of ecosystem services into local plans is considered an indicator of the plan's capacity to implement strategic action. This study provides a national overview of the incorporation of the ecosystem service concept in current municipal comprehensive plans in Sweden and explores the actions taken by three municipalities in Stockholm County to implement the ecosystem service concept in practice. A multi-method design was employed including a qualitative content analysis of 231 municipal comprehensive plans, a statistical analysis analyzing temporal changes from 2005 – 2017, and dialogue meetings with municipal practitioners from the three municipalities. We divided the level of integration to four categories, A (Advanced) - D (Not included). Overall, the integration of the ecosystem service concept has significantly increased in municipal comprehensive plans during the last decade. At national level, 23% of municipalities have explicitly mentioned ecosystem services, and within Stockholm County, 42%. The dialogue meetings with municipal practitioners revealed that the municipalities were at different stages of implementing the ecosystem service concept, with diverse actions being implemented for advancing practice. These included capacity building, participatory processes and development of thematic plans and operational documents. To support the future implementation of the ecosystem service concept from vision to action, both local and national initiatives are needed.

Eutrophication assessments in water management to quantify nutrient loads and identify mitigating measures seldom include the contribution from horse facilities. This may be due to lack of appropriate methods, limited resources, or the belief that the impact from horses is insignificant. However, the recreational horse sector is growing, predominantly in multi-functional peri-urban landscapes. We applied an ecosystem management approach to quantify nutrient loads from horse facilities in the Stockholm Region, Sweden. We found that horses increased the total loads with 30-40% P and 20-45% N, with average area-specific loads of 1.2 kg P and 7.6 kg N ha^-1 year^-1. Identified local risk factors included manure management practices, trampling severity, soil condition and closeness to water. Comparisons of assessment methods showed that literature standard values of area-specific loads and water runoff may be sufficient at the catchment level, but in small and more complex catchments, measurements and local knowledge are needed.

Property rights are important institutions for regulating the use of valuable natural resources from coastal ecosystems. In this case study, we identify and analyze property rights and user patterns related to small-scale coastal fisheries in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden. User patterns and user groups have changed significantly over the last century, as commercial fishing has been increasingly replaced by recreational activities. Interviews with local resource users and owners of water properties in two different areas, Möja and Ornö parishes within the Stockholm Archipelago, revealed a very diverse pattern of property and user rights, with a large number of water and fishing rights owners. Recreational fisheries, including both sport and household fishing, seem to predominate in both areas, but ownership differs. In Möja, most waters are collectively owned, whereas in Ornö, individual ownership predominates. Very few examples of local influence on fisheries management were found in either area, although the social structure for joint management does exist in Möja. Instead, larger-scale institutions at the regional, national, or international level regulate fisheries, often not addressing local conditions and fish populations. The ongoing shift in resource use has created a heterogeneous user group, and the limitations of centralized management authorities in dealing with the diversity in the coastal ecosystem have created mismatches within the social–ecological system. Combined with a large-scale decline in coastal fish stocks, these mismatches challenge the existing local property rights arrangements as well as the more centralized regulatory management structure. A key issue for fisheries management is how to develop and stimulate appropriate distribution of management functions at different geographical scales and organizational levels. The complexity and diversity in archipelago fisheries call for multilevel arrangements and cross-scale coordination, and initiatives have been taken by both central governmental authorities and local user groups to collaborate concerning habitat restoration and protection of important spawning grounds.

Industrial meat production has several negative environmental effects. Governments’ agricultural policies aim for cost efficiency combined with high environmental and animal welfare, which puts farmers in a difficult situation trying to navigate between sometimes contradictory requirements. This paper studies how Swedish pig farmers resolve or cope with conflicting goals in pig farming. We have analysed the regulations governing EU and Swedish pig farming. We have also interviewed five Swedish pig farmers about their views of the different goals of pig farming and strategies for resolving conflicts between the goals of low environmental impact, high animal welfare and enough profitability to continue farming. The greatest divide was between the conventional farmers, who emphasized natural resource efficiency, and the organic farmers who stressed animal welfare, multifunctionality and ecosystem service delivery. We suggest four strategies to contribute to resolving some of the conflicting goals: improve communication about different types of pig farming; use public procurement as a driver towards more sustainable pork production; work towards improving the Common Agricultural Policy, perhaps by implementing payments for ecosystem services or multifunctionality; and finally, decrease the total production of pork to lower the emissions per land unit.

Agricultural systems can be seen as nested social-ecological systems. European Union (EU) Member States vary considerably in terms of their agricultural, socio-economic and environmental circumstances. Yet, as participants in the common agricultural market, they are subject to a uniform Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). An important question is whether there is enough room for flexibility to sustain diverse agricultural systems and facilitate national targeting of sustainability-promoting measures. This article analyses the institutional arrangements concerning cross-scale interactions and interdependencies at national and regional (EU) levels, focusing on how Poland and Sweden implement CAP funds in relation to sustainable agriculture, in particular the agri-environmental schemes, for the period 2007-2013. What room is there in practice for accommodating national differences and sustainability priorities offered by the EU agricultural policy, and how are the existing opportunities used by the two countries? It is shown that agri-environmental funds are too small to prevent transition towards large-scale farming in new Member States and CAP does not effectively promote transformation towards sustainable practices in the EU.