Living archipelago
- a summary

Abstract of the evaluation
The presence of man is both a prerequisite for and a threat to a living archipelago. The regional environmental and resource management programmes deal with the, in some respects, conflicting, but also mutually dependent and interacting, interests of exploiting the archipelago as a resource and preserving its unique values. The programmes show that there are no simple standard models for how the archipelago's environmental and resource management problems can be solved once and for all.
The programme work comprises an impressive and important initiative for sustainable development in the archipelago. The four programmes contain a couple of hundred proposals pertaining to the archipelago environment and long-term management of natural and cultural resources. A distinguishing feature of the work has been the co-operation of all stakeholders at all levels.
At the same time, the Environmental Advisory Council notes that many of the difficult problems in the archipelagos require solutions that are not addressed in the programmes. These require measures that involve entire societal sectors and policy areas, such as agricultural policy and transport policy.

Appraisals and proposals
Following is a summary of the Environmental Advisory Council's appraisals and proposals for the sustainable development of Sweden's archipelagos.

The continued work

The Environmental Advisory Council's appraisals

The lack of comprehensive plans that can provide good guidance for practical action is a serious obstacle to sustainable development in the archipelago. A marshalling of forces is now needed to deal with the problems facing the Swedish archipelagos.

	A joint comprehensive planning campaign should be carried out in the country's coastal and archipelago areas. The municipalities in the regions where regional environmental and resource management programmes have been prepared should draw up more in-depth comprehensive plans for their coastal and archipelago areas by not later than 2005. Other coastal municipalities in the country have until 2009 to do the same. If the municipalities have not prepared the necessary comprehensive plans by this time, the Government should consider the possibility of ruling in accordance with Chapter 6 Section 13 of the Environmental Code that one or more municipalities shall notify the county administrative boards how they intend in their planning to ensure the proper management of land and water within the coastal and archipelago areas covered by Chapter 4 of the Environmental Code.
	The knowledge material needed by the municipalities for the work with the in-depth comprehensive plans should be compiled by county administrative boards and central agencies for the concerned counties by not later than 2003 and 2007, respectively. The county administrative boards should co-ordinate the work of compiling the required material and prioritize important areas. The appropriation letters should clearly state that the county administrative boards and central agencies have this responsibility. Responsibility for this provision of knowledge material in accordance with the Environmental Code should also be included in official directives to the agencies.
	The county administrative boards that have compiled regional environmental and resource management programmes for four archipelago regions in the country should, by not later than 2003, follow up and report to the Government what measures have been carried out by different actors based on the proposals in the different programmes. In 2005, a comprehensive analysis should be conducted to evaluate how the situation has progressed. The county administrative boards should then also report to the Government what additional measures are needed for sustainable development in their respective archipelago areas.
	The Government should encourage active Swedish participation in an upcoming EU programme for integrated coastal zone management, ICZM. The coastal county administrative boards should, together with the equivalent regions in other countries around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, participate actively in the development of the regional and local administration of the coastal zone's environment as well as land and water resources. Joint efforts in different water areas in accordance with the EU's upcoming water framework directive should also be prioritized.

	It is urgent to support the archipelago residents in their efforts to develop economic activities and products. It is important that proposals for e.g. marketing of local products can be realized. Advice on e.g. applications for EU aid can facilitate this.
	The tourist and travel industry in the archipelago needs to be viewed in a long-range perspective where sustainable development is a central concept. The proposals presented by several county administrative boards for development of strategies for the tourist and travel industry in the archipelago can be important steps in this direction.
	It is important to have an acceptable service level for residents and visitors in the archipelago. The Swedish Consumer Agency's work to develop a service database together with the National Rural Development Agency can furnish knowledge concerning the conditions that exist in the archipelago areas.
	It will be particularly important when addressing the financial situation of permanent residents in attractive areas to focus attention on the importance of a year-round population for a living archipelago.

	The National Food Administration should be commissioned to review Sweden's food legislation and its application to small-scale food processing towards the end of facilitating economic activities for archipelago residents.
	The National Rural Development Agency should be commissioned to provide an overall picture of different forms of aid to passenger and freight transport services in the archipelago and what the application of such aid looks like in the archipelago. Furthermore, the Agency should investigate the potential for national aid to passenger and freight transport services in the archipelago.

	Forums or working groups that bring together different categories of fishermen, as well as government agencies and researchers, are important initiatives for increased responsibility for the administration of fisheries.
	It is important that damage caused by seals and cormorants can be minimized by preventive measures. Action is needed here at both the national and European level.

	The Government should initiate discussions with concerned Baltic Sea states regarding a temporary moratorium on, or sharp reduction of, cod fishing. Fishing should not be resumed until cod stocks has increased throughout its natural range.
	The National Board of Fisheries should be commissioned to propose catch quota for small-scale coastal fishing, primarily for cod. The commission includes devising criteria for the fishing to be included in the category "small-scale coastal fishing".
	The National Board of Fisheries should be commissioned to draw up a plan for the investigations that are needed to quantify and manage the coastal fish stocks. The plan should include an assessment of the impact of industrial fishing on the fish stocks in the archipelagos. The commission should also include investigating the possibilities of requiring environmental impact assessments of large-scale industrial fishing.
	Concerned county administrative boards should be commissioned to assume responsibility, in consultation with the National Board of Fisheries, for organizing, executing and evaluating trial programmes for local management of fishing resources. The National Board of Fisheries should further be commissioned to furnish the knowledge material needed for the trial programme. The trials will be commenced in three archipelago regions: one in West Götaland county, one in the archipelago region of Uppsala, Stockholm and Södermanland counties and one in the archipelago region of Östergötland and Kalmar counties.
	The aquaculture situation should be followed with regard to environmental load and location of fish farms. The Swedish EPA should be commissioned to review and update current recommendations and directions regarding aquaculture.

Eutrophication of the coastal seas is probably the single phenomenon with the greatest adverse effect on the marine environment of the archipelago. This adverse effect has been permitted to exist for far too long a time, and vigorous measures must be taken. The efforts to combat eutrophication being pursued on the national and international plane must be given very high priority and be broadened and deepened in order to mitigate the adverse effects of eutrophication on the aquatic environment.

It is important that measures be taken to mitigate the adverse effects of eutrophication at the regional and local levels. Such measures include, for example, efforts to create or restore wetlands intended to act as filters to reduce the nutrient content of the water.

	The National Maritime Administration should be commissioned to come up with proposals for strict emission standards for existing marine engines and to devise rules to bring about a faster phase-out of marine engines that fail to meet the emission standards. A deadline should be stipulated after which such engines may no longer be used. The National Maritime Administration should investigate the possibility of imposing an environmental charge on such outboard motors in order to hasten the phase-out.
	A reapportionment and differentiation of the taxes on petrol and oil should be carried out to permit a sharp tax reduction on alkylate petrol and biodegradable oils. The tax reduction is intended to encourage a switch to environmentally compatible fuels and oils. The tax reform should be implemented in co-operation with concerned sectors of industry.
	The National Maritime Administration should be commissioned to conduct an information campaign on the reasons for using environmentally compatible fuels and oils. The campaign should also educate the public on the reasons for phasing out marine engines that do not meet strict emission standards.

The option of local water supply and sewage systems should guide the siting of building and plants.

Municipalities should deal more thoroughly with groundwater questions in their comprehensive plans than has generally been the case in the past. The county administrative boards and concerned central agencies - the Geological Survey of Sweden , SGU, and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI - should assist the municipalities with regional planning material containing hydrogeological surveys for entire catchment areas.

	The county administrative boards should devise, in collaboration with municipalities and concerned trade associations, a regional water supply and sewage policy which can serve as a basis for decisions on water supply and sewage questions in the archipelago.
	The Geological Survey of Sweden, SGU, should be commissioned to introduce licensing of well drillers for the purpose of exerting tighter control over, and raising the competence of, well drillers in order to reduce the risk of incorrectly drilled wells.
	A committee of inquiry should be appointed to investigate private water supply and sewage systems. The inquiry should include proposing a co-ordinating body to oversee the technological development of small-scale water supply and sewage systems. Proposals should also be made on forms for review and approval of new small-scale water supply and sewage technology and of trial programmes with local water supply and sewage systems.
	The Swedish EPA should, in collaboration with SGU and the National Food Administration, investigate the possibility of prescribing an environmental quality standard pursuant to Chapter 5 of the Environmental Code for the maximum concentration of chloride in non-saline groundwater.

	The shores cannot continue to be built up at the present-day rate. Building is in practice an irrevocable intervention, and there is only a limited amount of shoreline. Changes in the shore zone can lead over the long term to exploitation of a considerable portion of the free shores that remain.
	Shore protection must be more precisely defined in a dialogue between the municipal and regional levels.
	An overall picture is lacking over what shores are in practice accessible to the public and what the detailed trend in the shore zone looks like. It is important that simple methods be put into practical use as soon as possible at the regional and municipal levels so that the trend along the coast and in the archipelago can be followed even with small resources.

	The Environmental Code Committee should be commissioned to investigate whether building extensions should in some cases require an exemption from the Environmental Code's shore protection provisions, since an extension can increase the size of the built-up site and thereby reduce public access to the shore area.
	The county administrative boards should immediately revoke the right to grant exemption from the shore protection provisions if the application of these provisions is not compatible with the intentions of the legislation or in the event a municipality does not report all exemption decisions.
	The county administrative boards should enforce the shore protection provisions more strictly.
	The requirements for obtaining an exemption from the Environmental Code's shore protection provisions should be tightened up from today's special reasons to extraordinary reasons. This presumes that the shore protection has been limited to land and water areas that fulfil the purposes of the shore protection. This change will therefore not be implemented until the shore protection has been delimited in detail by the county administrative boards in collaboration with the municipalities.
	All county administrative boards should review their shore protection decrees by not later than 2005. This review should be carried out in collaboration with the municipalities and with the support of the National Land Survey. The Swedish EPA should issue national directions for this. In conjunction with the review, the county administrative boards should delimit in detail the extent of the shore protection and take advantage of the opportunity to extend the shore protection to 300 metres into the water as well for the purpose of protecting valuable shallow areas.

	There is a need to develop working methods both regionally and centrally where landowners, public agencies etc. can collaborate to arrive at joint solutions for the best way to safeguard natural and cultural environment values in agriculture and forestry.
	The Swedish EPA's next nationwide nature inventory should pertain to aquatic environments.

	The National Board of Agriculture and the National Board of Forestry, in collaboration with the Swedish EPA and the National Heritage Board, should be commissioned to examine the possibility of using nature conservation or usufruct agreements in both agriculture and forestry as a complement to nature and cultural reserves, biotope protection areas and general nature considerations.
	The National Board of Agriculture should take the coastal and archipelago areas specially into consideration in directions concerning the allocation of the EU's farm supports and in planning information to farmers.
	The county administrative boards should stipulate in their implementation plans for the portion of the farm supports decided on regionally how the actions for the coastal and archipelago areas can be strengthened.
	The Government should give the National Board of Agriculture directions entailing a reallocation of the proposed investment aid towards environmental ends within the framework of what is possible according to EU guidelines. The grant portion of the investment aid should be raised to 45 percent and the grant frame to SEK 600,000 for islands without fixed land links. In other respects, the same conditions should apply as for the mainland.
	The county administrative boards, in collaboration with municipalities and concerned local and regional stakeholders, should identify the geographic areas where additional protection of various kinds is warranted out of consideration to natural, cultural and recreational values, including satisfying outdoor recreation interests. A strategy should then be devised for how these areas can be protected in the long term.
	The Swedish EPA and the National Heritage Board should be jointly commissioned to devise a national strategy by 2005 at the latest for how the aggregate natural, cultural and recreational values of the coastal and archipelago areas should be preserved, managed, utilized and developed in the long term.
	The Swedish EPA should be commissioned to inventory shallow water areas and their biological values in the archipelago and along the coasts, as well as to propose how these bottoms worthy of protection can be given generally strengthened protection. The commission should include proposing how the bottoms worthy of protection are to be defined.
	The Environmental Code Committee should be commissioned to investigate the question of citizen influence in conjunction with nature conservation planning and the possibilities of introducing a similar consultation principle in the Environmental Code as that which is required today according to the Planning and Building Act.
	County administrative boards and municipalities should collaborate to identify and delimit by not later than 2003 "areas of consideration" where traffic restrictions near land are suitable for the purpose of noise abatement, but where restrictions of other disturbances may also be warranted. The county administrative boards should report the results of their work by not later than 2003 to the Swedish EPA. County administrative boards and municipalities should collaborate with the National Maritime Administration in this work.
	The National Heritage Board should be commissioned to find - together with the National Maritime Administration, the National Maritime Museums and the National Board of Fisheries - forms for an active preservation of older working vessels as a natural part of the rich cultural heritage of the coastal and archipelago areas.
	The county administrative boards and other concerned central and regional agencies should form as soon as possible a co-ordination group in each county to review which state-owned properties might be candidates for sale and appraise their value from the viewpoint of natural environment, cultural environment and outdoor recreation, as well as other societal interests.