31
present no proposal on how to restructure CAP – for instance, the present focus on
subsidising quite intensive conventional agriculture – in order to promote the marine
environmental objectives at hand, not even after the recent CAP reform. There is an
obvious lack of integration of the various policies (Baldock et al. 2002 ; Schumacher
2011 ; Tynkkynen et al. 2014 ). It is therefore not surprising that also the interviewees often considered CAP not to be in synergy with MSFD and neither with
WFD. Furthermore, communication with Russia is also problematic. In the interviews, opinions were raised that the Russian stakeholders wanted to focus more on
cooperation within HELCOM, instead of on EU-related instruments.
Turning to the national level, much of the EU legislation, such as MSFD as well
as BSAP allow, presume and sometimes also demand that countries adapt implementation to national circumstances, giving nation states a central role. However,
the 2011 National Implementation Plans (NIPs) linked to BSAP diverged quite substantially in terms of content, structure and detail, as well as with respect to implementation of EAM -related measures (Gilek et al. 2013 ). Only about half of NIPs
(e.g. Russia, Estonia and Sweden ) gave information on costs and fi nancing (Gilek
et al. 2013 ), and not all countries described planned projects and measures.
Regarding EAM implementation, several countries including Denmark, Finland
and Russia did not explicitly mention EAM in their NIPs, whereas others referred
to EAM principles in a non-specifi c way. It was also striking that multi-sector
cooperation, stakeholder participation and communication, as well as adaptive
governance generally were given limited attention. These NIPs revealed that key
aspects of EAM have hardly been implemented in national governance frameworks
to tackle eutrophication. The dominance of end-of-pipe methods for reducing nutrients , such as wastewater treatment, is increasingly expensive and hard to expand
further and therefore insuffi cient for achieving the signifi cant reductions needed for
fulfi lling BSAP and MSFD goals.
2.4 Assessment and Management of Eutrophication
EAM evidently relates to both science and policy. For example, the organisation of
risk assessment activities and integration of knowledge across different scientifi c
disciplines, as well as addressing ways to cope with uncertainty and disagreement ,
are central for EAM implementation. On the one hand, formal assessments established by experts based on solid consensual knowledge play an indispensable role
for being able to characterise problems and develop science-based advice on particular measures. On the other hand, scientifi c uncertainty and sociopolitical ambiguity challenge the conventional view on management and open for controversies
that might necessitate not only precautionary approaches but also institutionalising
deliberative forums. In the following, we will fi rst describe and then analyse the
situation in the case of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea.
2 Eutrophication and the Ecosystem Approach to Management: A Case Study…
present no proposal on how to restructure CAP – for instance, the present focus on
subsidising quite intensive conventional agriculture – in order to promote the marine
environmental objectives at hand, not even after the recent CAP reform. There is an
obvious lack of integration of the various policies (Baldock et al. 2002 ; Schumacher
2011 ; Tynkkynen et al. 2014 ). It is therefore not surprising that also the interviewees often considered CAP not to be in synergy with MSFD and neither with
WFD. Furthermore, communication with Russia is also problematic. In the interviews, opinions were raised that the Russian stakeholders wanted to focus more on
cooperation within HELCOM, instead of on EU-related instruments.
Turning to the national level, much of the EU legislation, such as MSFD as well
as BSAP allow, presume and sometimes also demand that countries adapt implementation to national circumstances, giving nation states a central role. However,
the 2011 National Implementation Plans (NIPs) linked to BSAP diverged quite substantially in terms of content, structure and detail, as well as with respect to implementation of EAM -related measures (Gilek et al. 2013 ). Only about half of NIPs
(e.g. Russia, Estonia and Sweden ) gave information on costs and fi nancing (Gilek
et al. 2013 ), and not all countries described planned projects and measures.
Regarding EAM implementation, several countries including Denmark, Finland
and Russia did not explicitly mention EAM in their NIPs, whereas others referred
to EAM principles in a non-specifi c way. It was also striking that multi-sector
cooperation, stakeholder participation and communication, as well as adaptive
governance generally were given limited attention. These NIPs revealed that key
aspects of EAM have hardly been implemented in national governance frameworks
to tackle eutrophication. The dominance of end-of-pipe methods for reducing nutrients , such as wastewater treatment, is increasingly expensive and hard to expand
further and therefore insuffi cient for achieving the signifi cant reductions needed for
fulfi lling BSAP and MSFD goals.
2.4 Assessment and Management of Eutrophication
EAM evidently relates to both science and policy. For example, the organisation of
risk assessment activities and integration of knowledge across different scientifi c
disciplines, as well as addressing ways to cope with uncertainty and disagreement ,
are central for EAM implementation. On the one hand, formal assessments established by experts based on solid consensual knowledge play an indispensable role
for being able to characterise problems and develop science-based advice on particular measures. On the other hand, scientifi c uncertainty and sociopolitical ambiguity challenge the conventional view on management and open for controversies
that might necessitate not only precautionary approaches but also institutionalising
deliberative forums. In the following, we will fi rst describe and then analyse the
situation in the case of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea.
2 Eutrophication and the Ecosystem Approach to Management: A Case Study…