8 February 2024.

Ocean acidification has been called the 'evil twin of warming'. 

What can we do beyond reduction of carbon dioxide emission? What new science is ongoing and needed to address this challenge?

Welcome to a seminar on acidification and its effects in the sea!

Speakers:

Erik Gustafsson, oceanographer and researcher, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Sam Dupont, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg.

Read a summary of the seminar:

Baltic Breakfast: Ocean acidification – an emerging problem also in the Baltic Sea

Read our new policy brief about ocean acidification:

Policy brief: Ocean acidification poses another threat to the Baltic Sea ecosystem (layouted pdf)

Policy brief: Ocean acidification poses another threat to the Baltic Sea ecosystem (webb text)

156 November 2023.

Why is the Gulf of Riga herring in better shape than the herring in the rest of the Baltic? Is it management or the environment – or both? Are there any lessons to be learned for management of other stocks? What are the future prospects?

Speakers:

Ivars Putnis, from the Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment (BIOR) in Latvia

Olavi Kaljuste, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Analyst at the Department of Aquatic Resources; Population analysis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU-Aqua).

Read a summary of the seminar:

Baltic Breakfast: Fisheries regulations and environmental factors behind the strong Riga herring

20 September 2023.

PFAS are called “forever chemicals” for a reason, they never break down in nature. However, it was previously thought that these chemicals would ultimate be transported to and diluted in the oceans. But, unfortunately, the ocean has now been shown to a secondary source of PFAS. Take the opportunity to ask some of the leading PFAS researchers everything you've ever wondered about this
highly topical group of chemicals!

Speakers:

Ian Cousins, Professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences, Stockholm University

Matthew Salter, researcher at the Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University

Read more about the seminar here

19 April 2023.

Upcoming Baltic Breakfast is focused on the environmental impact from shipping, especially from tank cleaning, and the actions needed to reduce it.

Speakers:

Anna Lunde Hermansson, Doctoral Student in Maritime Environmental Science, Chalmers University of Technology

Ida-Maja Hassellöv, Professor in Maritime Environmental Science, Chalmers University of Technology

Moderator: Ellen Bruno, policy analyst at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Read more about the program here

Register here (physical participation only)

15 February 2023.

This Baltic Breakfast deals with topics that include intervention of the seabed: carbon capture and storage and sea bed mining.

Speakers

Francisco Nacimento, Associate Professor, Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Science, Stockholm University

Gry Møl Mortensen, Senior Geologist, Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU)

Read a summary and answers to questions from the audience:

Baltic Breakfast: Messing with the seabed – and below it

30 November 2022.

Environmental ministers from all over the world will meet at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in December, to decide on new global biological diversity targets. During this breakfast seminar, you will hear from two scientists at the forefront of biodiversity conservation, highlighting two of the issues at stake – conservation of genetic diversity and the importance of marine protected areas.

Speakers

Linda Laikre, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University

Susa Niiranen, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University (presentation prepared by colleague Robert Blasiak)

Read an article about the seminar:

Scientists ahead of COP15: “Improvements are urgently needed”

9 November 2022.

Phosphorus is vital for all living things, but also floods our waters. If it is already present in lakes and sea bays, is it possible to bind phosphorus to bottom sediments using aluminium treatment? What are the benefits and obstacles? 

Speakers

Bo Gustafsson, Associate Professor of Oceanography, Director of the Baltic Nest Institute, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Brian Huser, Associate Professor, Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

This Baltic Breakfast was held in English and entirely digitally. Read an article about the seminar and the researchers answers to questions from the audience:

Modelling key to optimising outcome of aluminium treatment

Read our new fact sheet about the effects of the aluminium treatment in Björnöfjärden (in Swedish):

Effekter på fosfor av aluminiumbehandlingen i Björnöfjärden

31 August 2022.

Three years ago, the eastern cod stock was in such bad shape that the Commission decided on an emergency closure of the fishery. Since then, only by-catches have been allowed. Despite reducing fishing pressure, the cod has still not recovered. Collapses in fish stocks are commonly blamed on overfishing. But for the eastern Baltic cod, this is not the case. Instead, the productivity of the stock sank. Expected growth did not materialize. What factors can explain the crash of the stock?

Speakers

Henrik Svedäng, Researcher and Associate Professor, Baltic Sea Centre, Stockholm University

Anna Villnäs, Researcher in marine biology at the Tvärminne Zoological Station, Helsinki University

Read an article about the webinar and the researchers answers to questions from the audience:

Baltic Breakfast: No clear cause behind the collapse of the eastern Baltic cod

11 May 2022.

Actions to improve nutrient use efficiency in the Baltic Sea region is the topic of this Baltic Breakfast. Benoit Dessirier, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre, will present new modelling results regarding magnitude and dynamics of nutrient legacies in agricultural landscapes in the Baltic region and how they contribute to river loads to the sea. Gitte Blicher-Mathisen, Aarhus University, will describe the actions taken in Denmark to reduce nutrient leakage.

Speakers:

Benoît Dessirier, Researcher, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Gitte Blicher-Mathiesen, Senior Advisor, Dep of EcoScience, Aarhus University

Read an article about the webinar and the researchers answers to questions from the audience:

Baltic Breakfast: The Danish example shows that nitrogen leakage can be reduced

26 january 2022.

Environmental changes have consequences for the Baltic Sea's food webs and ecosystems. 

Speakers:

Maciej Tomczak, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Eva Ehrnsten, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Read an article about the webinar and the researchers answers to questions from the audience:

Baltic Breakfast: Environmental changes impact benthic fauna – and the whole food web

14 December 2021.

Climate change is happening. And it is already affecting the Baltic Sea.  At this webinar Professor Markus Meier will summarise climate change impacts on the Baltic Sea physics and biogeochemistry/ecosystem and Professor Anna Rutgersson will give us the latest research on effects of extreme events and natural hazards in the Baltic Sea catchment area.

Speakers

Prof. Dr. Markus Meier, Head of Department, Physical Oceanography and Instrumentation, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde; Professor University of Rostock; Senior Scientist at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute; Chair of the Baltic Earth Science Steering Group and Co-chair of the Baltic Earth/HELCOM Expert Network on Climate Change (EN CLIME).

Prof. Anna Rutgersson, Dep of Earth Sciences, Prg for Air, Water and Landscape Sciences, Meteorology, Uppsala University.

Read a summay of the webinar and and the researchers answers to questions from the audience: 

Impacts of climate change on the Baltic Sea – the known and the uncertain

30 November 2021.

What is the situation for waterbirds in the Baltic Sea? Can we learn from successful examples and act to protect the seabird species that are most at risk now?

Researchers:

Kjell Larsson, Professor Emeritus of Maritime Science and Environment, Linnaeus University, Växjö/Kalmar

Dr Sergey Kouzov , Senior Researcher at the Department of Applied Ecology, Saint Petersburg State University

This webinar was jointly organised by the Consulate of Sweden in Saint Petersburg and the Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre.

26 October 2021.

In this webinar we discuss the concept of essential use and substitution of hazardous chemicals, and how these strategies can provide a safer and more sustainable use of chemicals. In more detail, we focus on the application of the essential use concept by presenting different examples.

The webinar will also highlight some examples from the ongoing work in the POPFREE project that has an important role in helping the industry to phase out non-essential uses of PFAS, as well as informing the public.

Read a summary and answers to the questions from the audience here:

Harmful chemicals – which use is essential?

Speakers

Ian Cousins, Professor in Environmental Chemistry at Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University

Lisa Skedung, PhD in Surface Chemistry, Project Manager for POPFREE at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Ulrika Dahl, PhD in Applied Environmental Science, Scientific officer and Project Manager Essential Use, Swedish Chemicals Agency

8 October 2021.

This webinar about eutrophication in the Baltic Sea is jointly organised by the Consulate of Sweden in Saint Petersburg and the Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre.

Speakers:

Sergey Kondratyev, DSc., Deputy Director of the Institute of Limnology, Russian Academy of Science

Linda Kumblad, Associate Professor in Systems Ecology, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre 

26 August 2021.

The coastal zones are among the most effective areas on Earth at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. Treated right, these ecosystems are important cornerstones in climate change mitigation, but if degraded, they instead release large amounts of greenhouse gases, re-enforcing global warming. What is the situation for these ecosystems in the Baltic Sea? Are they sinks or sources of carbon? And how well is this so called blue carbon implemented in climate mitigation policies?

Speakers:

Florian Roth, PhD in Marine Science, Post Doc at Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre and Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki

Camilla Gustafsson, PhD in Marine Biology, University researcher at Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki

Read a summary and the researchers answers to the questions from the audience:

Blue carbon and methane emissions – how coasts and climate are connected

Read a policy brief on the topic:

Policy brief: Healthy coastal ecosystems are crucial to mitigate climate change

21 May 2021.

What can research tell us about the impact of climate change on the Baltic Sea? How is the sea’s salinity and temperature affected? Will increased precipitation on land lead to more nutrient run off entering the sea and giving more eutrophication? How will this affect biodiversity? 

Speakers

Alf Norkko, Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki

Tatiana Eremina, Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of Hydrology and Oceanology at the Russian State Hydrometeorological University

This webinar was jointly organised by the Consulate of Sweden in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre.

18 juni 2021.

Will increased consumption of seafood benefit food sustainability and the marine ecosystems? What can science tell us about environmental impact of increased seafood consumption? Are consumers interested in buying sustainable seafood?

Speakers:

Sara Hornborg, PhD in natural science, researcher, Sustainable consumption and Production at RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden

Malin Jonell, PhD in system ecology, researcher, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

Read a summary and the researchers answers to the questions from the audience:

Seafood consumption from a sustainability perspective

16 April 2021.

Researcher and Associate Professor Emma Undeman presents current science and Olga Rublevskaya, Director of the technology development department at wastewater treatment plant Vodokanal, talks about existing technology of wastewater treatment in St. Petersburg and the possible future development.

Speakers:

Associate Professor Emma Undeman, Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre

Olga Rublevskaya, Director of the technology development department at wastewater treatment plant Vodokanal

This webinar was jointly organised by the Consulate of Sweden in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre.