FE524 Evaluation of the implementation of the 1988 Ministerial Declaration regarding nutrient load reductions in the Baltic Sea catchment area
Ain Lääne, Heikki Pitkänen, Berit Arheimer, Horst Behrendt, Waldemar Jarosinski, Sarmite Lucane, Karin Pachel, Antti Räike, Alexander Shekhovtsov, Lars M. Svendsen and Simonas Valatka, 2002.
The Finnish Environment 524, International cooperation , 195 p.
URN:ISBN:9521110325. ISBN 952-11-1032-5 (PDF).
The publication is available also in printed form ISBN 952-11-1031-7 (nid.)
Abstract
The report summarises the development of nitrogen and phosphorus loading in the Baltic Sea catchment area between the late 1980s and 1995, as well as the reduction achieved. The national loading figures have been collected in long-term monitoring
programmes, which, however, differ among countries, especially regarding diffuse loading. Some of the loading figures for the late 1980s have been calculated based on background statistics and/or model calculations, without the possibility of verification
by monitored data. The loading figures for 1995 are, for the most part, calculated from the data obtained in monitoring programmes. The country-specific reduction figures were produced by the national experts of the Project Team, and the overall results
and their comparison are based on these estimates.
The total point source loads of nitrogen and phosphorus decreased by 30 % and 39 %, respectively. The 50 % reduction target was achieved for phosphorus by almost all the Baltic Sea countries, while most countries did not reach the target for nitrogen.
Decreases of diffused loading could be found in nitrogen loads, while decreases in phosphorus remained smaller or negligible. In Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden, no decreases could be found in agricultural phosphorus, despite reductions in the use of
phosphorus- containing fertilisers due to the surplus of phosphorus in agricultural land. The estimates suggest that the 50 % reduction target would have been reached by some countries in transition for both N and P.
In general, the reductions were biggest both for point and non-point sources in the transition countries, due to fundamental changes in their political and economical systems in the early 1990s. In EU member countries, the observed decrease was usually
smaller and was based on water protection measures implemented during the period. This development strengthened also in the countries in transition during the 1990s. Denmark, Finland, Germany (Western part) and Sweden had already achieved reductions in
point source loading in the 1970s and 1980s. This partly explains lower reductions from point sources in these countries between the late 1980s and 1995.
More information
Heikki Pitkänen, Finnish Environment Institute, Phone + 358 9 403 000.
firstname.surname@ymparisto.fi [ heikki pitkanen]
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