Successful management of the Baltic Sea ecosystem is facilitated by the availability of wellfunctioning decision support tools. Over the years several such tools have been developed, ranging from conceptual models to complex operational systems linked to databases.
A new policy brief from BONUS DESTONY project gives an overview of the existing decision support tools developed for the Baltic Sea and their availability, and discusses how well they support an ecosystem-based management.
Highligts
- Although there exist a wide range of decision support tools for the Baltic Sea ecosystem (BONUS DESTONY identified 42 of them) not that many are easily accessible.
- Only two DSTs cover the full DAPSIWRM cycle (se figure on page 2), suggesting the ecosystem approach is not yet very well represented among the currently available DSTs.
- The priority areas defined in the Baltic Sea Action plan are well addressed by the DSTs. Underwater noise is addressed by one DST, and marine litter is not addressed by any tools.
- A considerable share of end-users had no idea or only a faint understanding of what DSTs are; lack of information and experience were named as the main factors stopping potential end-users from applying DSTs.
- 40 percent of the developers/hosts feel that their tools have not been used to their full potential – this highlights a knowledge gap between the developers and users of DSTs.
Read or download the new policy brief here (pdf).
About BONUS DESTONY
The BONUS DESTONY project runs 2018–2020 and is coordinated by Vivi Fleming-Lehtinen, Finnish Environmental Institute, SYKE. Participating partners are Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde IOW, Aarhus University and Stockholm University Baltic Sea Center.
BONUS DESTONY receives funds from BONUS (Art. 185), which is jointly funded by the EU, the Academy of Finland, Innovation Fund Denmark and the Swedish Research Council Formas.
Read more about DESTONY at bonusportal.org/projects/synthesis_2018-2020/destony and syke.fi/projects/bonusdestony.