EU Researchers Making Clean Lakes A Priority
(CORDIS) — Water is a critical element for all living creatures on Earth, and then some. Not only do humans, animals and plants require this odourless and transparent liquid to survive, water also impacts the planet’s climate regulation cycle and the economies of countries the world over. So protecting Earth’s resources of water, whether they stem from salt or freshwater ecosystems, is a responsibility that all Europeans must assume.
A case in point is LAKEADMIN (‘Regional administration of lake restoration initiatives’), a project funded under the EU Interreg IVC programme of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to the tune of EUR 1.48 million. The LAKEADMIN project partners are evaluating good lake restoration practices, which will be shared throughout Europe.
While officials and business actors have been effective in reducing nutrient loading from municipalities and industries, a number of European lakes continue to suffer. For the most part, the issues affect densely populated areas where local and regional significance of lakes is great. The LAKEADMIN partners say better lakes could help boost the economical value of ecosystem services provided by lakes. They add that the optimal water management practices are collected in a lake restoration database.
The European Water Policy targets a good state in all watercourses within the next three years. It should be noted, however, that because obstacles are expected, the timeline has been extended to 2027 at a number of watercourses.
One of the most important aspects of improving the state of lakes is that Europeans share their knowledge of lake restoration as well as their experiences. For the LAKEADMIN project, more experienced lake restoration experts, namely those from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary and Finland, are working together with less experienced ones to achieve the results they anticipate. Together, they will evaluate experiences from all partner countries in more detail and develop mechanisms to fuel the transfer of both knowledge and experience.
Led by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), the LAKEADMIN team brings together researchers from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Malta and Finland.
‘Each partner country will contribute to the process of collecting best lake restoration practices and ways to integrate them into regional policies better than before,’ says SYKE’s Ari Mäkelä, who is coordinating the LAKEADMIN project.
The project’s kick-off seminar, ‘Lake management in regional policies: good practices and need for knowledge’, will take place on 3 and 4 May. The Finnish capital city of Helsinki is hosting the event, which is organised by SYKE.