Freshwater - Why care? (Sweden)

SOER 2010 Common environmental theme (Deprecated)

Topics: Water and marine environment

This page was archived on 21 Mar 2015 with reason: A new version has been published

Why should we care? Links to further national information on freshwater.

Topic: Freshwater

more info Organisation name Swedish Environmental Protection Agency Reporting country Sweden Organisation website Organisation website Contact link Contact link Last updated 23 Sep 2011 Content license CC By 2.5 Content provider

Published: 23 Oct 2010 Modified: 11 May 2020 Feed synced: 23 Sep 2011 original

Key message

The biological diversity of Swedish lakes and rivers is low compared to southern Europe. Our knowledge of how many limnic species have disappeared is inadequate. More knowledge of the composition of species in freshwater ecosystems is needed to detect and

a) Why should we care about this theme?

There is a large number of lakes and rivers in Sweden, and due to the low population density, the majority of these are not influenced by point sources of pollution.

Diffuse sources are addressed

The importance of diffuse sources has long been known. The Water Framework Directive demands that the status of all water bodies is established and reported. This has accelerated appreciation of the importance of diffuse sources for release of nutrients, toxic substances and other contaminants harmful to the environment. It has also increased the use of models in determining ecological status, resulting in several projects using monitoring data, land use, discharge, etc.

Low biodiversity

The biological diversity of Swedish lakes and rivers is low compared to southern Europe. Our knowledge of how many limnic species have disappeared is inadequate. We are in the process of documenting the occurrence of species and are studying threats posed by the introduction of alien species and impacts on habitats. More knowledge of the composition of species in freshwater ecosystems is also needed to detect and follow the expected effects of the climate changes.