SNOWBAL

Title: Saving the Sea from Nutrient Overload by managing Wetlands/grasslands BALtically

Summary: Intensified agricultural production is a major cause of the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, also leading to a decline of biodiversity in the agricultural landscape. Economically effective and environmentally friendly farming methods are needed to reverse this trend. This is especially important in the Baltic countries, where agricultural intensification has been increasing rapidly over the past decade and will continue to do so during the years to come.

SNOWBAL increases the awareness of sustainable methods that reduce nutrient runoff to the Baltic Sea and shows that farming, ecological functions, nature conservation and business can go hand-in-hand. The SNOWBAL methods utilize High Nature Value grasslands and wetlands to produce products such as meat and bio-energy. The methods represent an alternative to utilizing arable land that is ploughed and heavily fertilized. SNOWBAL’s methods will be spread through study trips, workshops, work camps, village meetings, farm visits, fact sheets and outdoor exhibitions targeted at farmers and entrepreneurs.

The SNOWBAL methods will be developed by evaluating the impact of various farming methods on biodiversity and the economy, based on earlier work and new data. Bottlenecks concerning problems in implementing the methods will also be pinpointed. The results will be distributed to decision- and policy-makers.

For more information, please visit EurOcean Knowledge Gate.