Buffer­ing & Reduc­ing Baltic Sea Nitrate Pollution

BirdLife Europe

BirdLife aims to increase the lev­el of knowl­edge and com­pe­tence of agri­cul­ture prac­ti­tion­ers, the­o­reti­cians, and deci­sion-mak­ers in Poland regard­ing pos­si­ble nature-based solu­tions, in order to reduce nitrate pol­lu­tion in the Baltic Sea caused by inap­pro­pri­ate agri­cul­tur­al man­age­ment. The Baltic Sea is one of the most pol­lut­ed seas in Europe, with 97% of its area affect­ed by eutroph­i­ca­tion (the grad­ual increase in the con­cen­tra­tion of phos­pho­rus and nitro­gen). Five rivers are the main sources of nutri­ent loss, car­ry­ing 69.4% of the total amount of pol­lu­tants, of which two (Vis­tu­la and Odra) run through Poland. In such places, increas­ing pres­sure from agri­cul­ture con­tributes to grow­ing pol­lu­tion of sur­face waters. By gath­er­ing suf­fi­cient knowl­edge and good prac­tices on prop­er design of wet­land buffer zones, and buffer strips along water­cours­es – the project will devel­op and pro­mote among deci­sion-mak­ers, agri­cul­ture advi­sors, the sci­en­tif­ic com­mu­ni­ty, and NGOs, a mod­el for agri­cul­tur­al land man­age­ment based on nature, to min­i­mize pol­lu­tion runoff into sur­face waters.

For more information visit: https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/