Cooperation with researchers in the EU obviously includes cooperation with researchers in the former Eastern Europe, both with EU members and with Russia. Leif Norrgren, professor at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU, knows a lot about the exchange of researchers with countries in the east. We meet in Gusev in the Kaliningrad region in Russia, at an almost completed sewage treatment plant. A good example of cooperation with the EU, thinks Leif Norrgren:
- They have received EU support for the import of modern treatment technology. The Russians are now exhibiting a new attitude both to the needs of society and to our common concern to improve the environment of the Baltic Sea.
Healthy fish?
In the Swedish delegation that is visiting the treatment plant there are researchers, practitioners and civil servants. They hope to be in a position to give support in the future, inter alia through the Baltic Unit of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Sida. The river that receives the effluent from Gusev is called – truly – Pissa. It is a tributary of Pregolja which, in turn, flows into the Baltic Sea. Leif Norrgren has expressed a special wish, that test fishing should be conducted in the river both before the plant starts up and after it has been in operation for some time.
- We will be able to see what species there are, study their health and how they are recolonised, he says and continues:
- Genetic diversity is also important. The worse the genetic base of the wild population, the less chance it has to be healthy.
Systematic approach versus ecosystems
Cooperation among western and eastern researchers is on the increase. Both sides benefit from this, says Leif Norrgren, who cooperates with a water research institute that studies all from hydrology to fish health.
- These are good disciplines that do not need sophisticated apparatus.
To a greater degree than the Baltic EU countries, Russia has continued to work with classic disciplines such as taxonomy.
- Formerly, we in Sweden also had chairs in subjects like these, but now we have another direction. In Russia they have retained a systematic approach, says Leif Norrgren.
The Baltic region has come a little nearer to us as regards interdisciplinary science, a holistic approach and ecosystems.
- In ecology it is necessary to know all the pieces of the puzzle, Leif Norrgren points out. It is not enough to know one or two in order to understand the threat to the health of the ecosystem.
Educational base
More and more people in Eastern Europe speak English, and there are many networks and projects on issues to do with water, agriculture and rural development. One important factor is to develop an educational package for basic and further education in the countries around the Baltic Sea basin. In this respect, Leif Norrgren sees a good model in the Baltic University Programme which has its base at Uppsala University and arranges video conferences and other educational packages for all the universities and university colleges in our region.
- Such a common educational base is needed for future research, says Leif Norrgren.