Race For The Baltic has been granted 1,1 MSEK for Lokala vattenvårdsprojekt (LOVA) from Blekinge Länsstyrelse, to conduct a project together with SLU and Life IP Rich Waters. The grant will be used for collection of data in two bays in Blekinge County, including measurements of water flows as well as water and sediment analysis.

With a successful inspirational day in southern Sweden in Q4 fresh in mind, planning has started for a new inspirational day in Nyköping 5th of May related to measures against eutrophication.

As a spin-off to the Port Project the Production Project started in January 2022. Whilst the Port Project is addressing the unloading and loading of dry bulk fertilizer in ports the Production Project will address additional and more production-oriented areas that has impact on the phosphorus leakage into the Baltic Sea. The identified areas have been found in close co-operation with fertilizer producers, ports representatives, other NGOs, business consultants and governmental agencies.

The Port Project has entered its next phase and will target even more ports where Race For The Baltic can implement initiatives against eutrophication. We have identified four ports in Poland and Lithuania where our prevention cover solution could have a great impact on the phosphorus inflow to the Baltic Sea.

Planning has started for this year's Baltic Sea Day which takes place on the 25th of August. The day was initiated by the John Nurminen Foundation and has quickly become a major event in Finland. Now we want Sweden to also join this celebration of our beautiful and important sea. It is therefore gratifying to see the great interest from the broad range of actors who want to raise Baltic Sea issues. Together, we can increase knowledge and commitment to improve the environmental state of the Baltic Sea.

The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive is Sweden's largest water management project ever. The measures land with great emphasis on the countryside with measures such as individual sewers and plant cultivation. The overall goal according to the Water Framework Directive is that all water bodies must have good water status in 2021, or by 2027 at the latest, and that water quality must not deteriorate. Good water status refers to the ecological and chemical status of surface water and the chemical and quantitative status of groundwater.

Den 5 maj bjuder Race For The Baltic in dig som jobbar med vattenfrågor till en inspirerande dag för att diskutera tillståndet i Östersjön, övergödning, internbelastning och vilka förslag på åtgärder som finns för att effektivt kunna komma framåt i arbetet för att nå EUs vattendirektiv år 2027. Dagen består av föreläsningar och mingel på Sunlight i Nyköping den 5 maj kl. 09.00-16.30. Läs mer och anmäl dig här.

During 2021 the Baltic Fish Project has grown from 3 to 10 involved fishermen and together they have fished more than 18 tonnes of bream and ide.

In the past quarter a lot of efforts were put into knowledge about the technology. During the quarter we have had individual meetings with municipalities, participated in LIFE IP Rich Waters inspirational event for municipalities, hosted an event for municipalities in southern Sweden and developed marketing material including a movie

In 2021 we held workshops at two different occasions with 17 different municipalities from 5 different countries. We are experiencing good progress and knowledge exchange amongst our municipalities and our next meeting is scheduled for the 26th-28th of April 2022 in Helsinki.

In 2021, three new prevention covers were installed in two countries. By now the Port project has prevented approximately five ton of phosphorus from ending up in the Baltic Sea.