Biodiversity, climate conventions, climate-neutral energy, marine acidification, chemicals in the environment … the list of the areas where acute international solutions are essential can be extended. And this is just when Sweden has the presidency of the EU. Under Sweden's leadership, several of these problem areas will be discussed at a high political level. Research, largely financed by Research Council Formas, contributes knowledge that can form the basis for political decisions. Research results have enhanced public awareness of the risks we are facing, and woe betide the politician who does not take these seriously. Some of the most prominent researchers in the field of the environment are contributors to this issue of Sustainability.
Preservation of the benefit and intrinsic value of species in a functioning ecological system is one of the global problems the UN is working on. The goal of EU, to stop the loss of biodiversity by 2010, will not be achieved.
After work extending over many years, the EU has recently adopted the chemical legislation REACH. But this does mean that work on this has been completed. The legislation does not deal with nanotechnology, the prescribed tests are inadequate, and there are no fundamental data concerning the toxicity of 70,000 industrial chemicals. At the same time, researchers are finding environmental toxins that behave like guided missiles which home in on specific types of cells.
In a European network of researchers around the Baltic Sea, fish and environmental toxins are studied. The aim is to find how ecology and the genome of fish are impacted by environmental toxins. Through analyses of genetic changes, we can understand how marine species have managed to conquer Europe's largest inland sea. On the basis of this knowledge, predictions can be made of how climate changes may affect marine organisms. One very definite threat is the ongoing acidification of the sea. Other networks are studying how the Baltic Sea is to have sustainable management - especially with regard to nutrients in the inflowing waters.
The EU has assumed the role of global leader to find solutions to the climate crisis. In the European research network Global Governance, research is in progress on the forms of governance in society with the aim to achieve positive environmental changes and sustainable development. Global warming is strongest in the northern part of the globe. This is where Sweden, at least part of the country, is situated. Permafrost, the frozen ground that seldom melts, has decreased in extent. By 2050 there may be no permafrost left in the low lying areas of northern Sweden. This will increase emissions of greenhouse gases.