Mid Sweden University

Denna text är skriven inom ramen för Mistra Sport & Outdoors som är ett forsknings- och samverkansprogram för att skapa kunskap och lösningar för ökad miljömässig hållbarhet inom idrott och friluftsliv. Föreliggande rapport är en del av kunskapsuppbyggnaden kring hållbar användning av mark och vatten. Syftet med denna text är att sammanfatta forskningsläget vad gäller rekreationens negativa påverkan på naturmiljön i den svenska fjällkedjan.   

Överlag finns relativt få forskningsstudier om störningar och miljöpåverkan från friluftsliv och naturbaserad turism i svenska fjällkedjan. Generellt kan sägas att forskningen har fokuserat på direkt påverkan, till exempel markslitage från vandring och cykling samt på störning på renar. Generell kunskap om skoteråkningens utsläpp finns, men få studier behandlar specifikt effekterna i svenska fjällen. Sammanställningen av tidigare forskning visar också att det finns kunskapsluckor och därför kan rapporten även utgöra utgångspunkt för framtida forskningsstudier.

Den här rapporten vänder sig till aktörer med intresse för rekreation och miljöfrågor i svenska fjällen. Rapporten kan utgöra underlag i strategi-, planerings- och förvaltningsarbete. 

A steep increase of small papillary thyroid cancers (sPTCs) has been observed globally. A major risk factor for developing PTC is ionizing radiation. The aim of this study is to investigate the spatial distribution of sPTC in Sweden and the extent to which prevalence is correlated to gamma radiation levels (Caesium-137 (Cs-137), Thorium-232 (Th-232), Uranium-238 (U-238) and Potassium-40 (K-40)) using multiple geospatial and geostatistical methods. The prevalence of metastatic sPTC was associated with significantly higher levels of Gamma radiation from Th-232, U-238 and K-40. The association is, however, inconsistent and the prevalence is higher in densely populated areas. The results clearly indicate that sPTC has causative factors that are neither evenly distributed among the population, nor geographically, calling for further studies with bigger cohorts. Environmental factors are believed to play a major role in the pathogenesis of the disease.

The endeavour to align the goals of the Swedish food strategy with the national environmental quality objectives and the 17 global SDGs, presents an extraordinary challenge that calls forsystemic innovation. Industrial symbiosis can potentially provide the means for increasing sustainable food production, using locally subexploited resources that can reduce the need for land, agro-chemicals, transport and energy. This case study of the municipality of Härnösand, aims to assess opportunities and challenges for using waste flows and by-products for local food production, facilitated by industrial symbiosis. A potential symbiotic network was developed during three workshops with the main stakeholders in Härnösand. The potential of the COVID-19 pandemic to instigate policy changes, behavioural changes and formation of new alliances that may catalyse the transition towards food systems based on industrial symbiosis is discussed. The material flow inventory revealed that many under exploited resource flows were present in quantities that rendered them commercially interesting. Resources that can be used for innovative food production include, e.g., lignocellulosic residues, rock dust, and food processing waste. The internalised drive among local companies interested in industrial symbiosis and the emerging symbiotic relations, provide a fertile ground for the establishment of a local network that can process the subexploited material flows. Although there are multiple challenges for an industrial symbiosis network to form in Härnösand, this study shows that there is a significant potential to create added value from the region’s many resources while at the same time making the food system more sustainable and resilient, by expanding industrial symbiosis practices.

This Letter outlines the EU's & UN's latest environmental principle towards Net-Gains. It defines this principles' progress compared to recent “No-Net-Loss"/“Reduce-the-Rate-Of-Loss” approaches. Furthermore it introduces Environmental Net-Gain Governance as normative transition pathway and provides first practical approaches for increasing the worlds' biocapacity and for reducing impact from production and consumption. © 2021

Environmental Science aims to study the relationships between human beings influence on and dependence of nature, the interaction and integration of ecological, social and technical systems as well as the strategies for sustainable use of natural resources. The linking of social, ecological and economical aspects in Environmental Science can provide useful tools for the study, management and conservation of freshwater crayfish from a broad social perspective. Therefore, it is of interest to explore the relationships between Environmental Science and Astacology. By analysing the aims of the International Association of Astacology and the content of some volumes of Freshwater Crayfish from an Environmental Science perspective we found that Astacology is operating within the field of Environmental Science. The focus is mainly on identifying underlying mechanisms of environmental issues. We will point out unexplored scientific perspectives and propose some advice of how to study freshwater crayfish from a broad systems perspective.

The Swedish legislation regarding forestry, the Forestry Act from 1994, states that forestry should promote forests’ production and environmental values equally. Simultaneously extracting biomass resources for renewable materials and products while preserving and enhancing forest environments and biodiversity is a challenging task.

In this paper, the balancing question is problematized with focus on what items and relationships to include in forest models with a special focus on carbon budgets.

The results show that the biodiversity aspect is more difficult to capture in the models than the production data.

Ecosystem services differ depending on how they are valued within a society. For instance, the value for recreational sites varies depending on the number of people that use them. People also give different values to different services depending on their background, for instance for aesthetic and ethical values.

Since 2016 Mid Sweden University (Sweden) and VIVES (Belgium) has an educational cooperation. We use the cultural differences between Belgium and Sweden as an educational tool. In the exchange program, the students have one field trip in Sweden and one field trip in Belgium. In Sweden one sparsely populated area is used in the Swedish archipelago and in Belgium a semi natural area, a constructed lake,. We also compare residential areas in Stockholm and in Ypres.

Some findings so far:

Cultural services are important in semi natural areas in Belgium. The Swedish students become aware of the popularity for semi natural land for recreational use in Belgium. In the area of the lake “Eau d” Heure the difference is well expressed. The lake, first constructed to provide secured water delivery to the waterways for transportation, is now a popular recreational area. Lakes of the same size in Sweden could not reach those recreational values.

Even if the access in Sweden to more natural habitats is possible, nature first is withdrawn, and then reconstructed to get a value in residential areas instead of using already existing natural habitats.

The Swedish archipelago, some inhabited only by single families are exotic to Belgian students. No light pollution and the silence are a new experience. At the same time, inhabitants at these islands tries their best to find a way of living on tourism. Not even forestry are economical reasonable.

By the exchange program, we believe that we widen the mindsets of both groups of students and their understanding of ecosystem services in different cultural contexts.

Ecosystem Services is an increasingly used concept to understand and describe the dependencies of socio-technical systems on the ecosystems in which they exist. We have studied to what extent ecosystem services are appearing in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) in two Swedish cases, the improvement of ecological status in a river used for small scale hydropower and the mining operations of the MM mine. In neither of the two cases ecosystem services have been intentionally included in the work with the EIAs. The goal of the studies has been to examine to what extent ecosystem services are appearing anyway in the EIAs, to what extent data in the EIAs are sufficient to perform more structured ecosystem service assessments, and if the use of a more structured ecosystem services review during the EIA process could have contributed positively to the EIA work. 

Both EIAs in this study holds some information on impacts on ecosystem services, and more information on affected ecosystem functions that could be translated into ecosystems services and probably to full ecosystem service reviews with additional data gathering. Cases of ecosystem functions and services impacting other ecosystem functions and services, sometimes in several stages, were found, indicating that such functions or services could be of special importance to protect and / or support.