Abstract
The synthesis of the BONUS+ research is introduced. The HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan is examined as a case to illustrate the potentials and challenges in building the science–policymaking interface on a macroregional level. The projects address environmental challenges in the Baltic Sea as defined by the Baltic Sea Action Plan, or consider the environmental governance and decision making within the Baltic Sea context in general. Eutrophication, biodiversity, hazardous substances, maritime activities, and the environment governance are addressed, as are crosscutting issues, such as the impact of climate change, maritime spatial planning and impacts of future development on ecosystem services. The projects contributed to relevant policy developments: 37 consultations carried out at EU level, 49 modifications to policy documents and action plans, 153 suggestions for the efficacy of pertinent public policies and governance, and in 570 occasions, scientists working in BONUS+ projects served as members or observers in scientific and stakeholder committees.
Highlights
In 2006, the joint Baltic Sea research and development programme, BONUS, set its goal to create a cooperative, interdisciplinary, and transnational research program in support of the Baltic Sea region’s sustainable development
We introduce the synthesis of the BONUS? projects that were implemented during 2009–2011 and that piloted the current research governance framework of BONUS
Six years after the launch of the BONUS? call and adoption of the Baltic Sea Action Plan, it has become self-evident that these two independent events launched a unique process of linking science to policy, which has no analogy worldwide
Summary
In 2006, the joint Baltic Sea research and development programme, BONUS, set its goal to create a cooperative, interdisciplinary, and transnational research program in support of the Baltic Sea region’s sustainable development. BONUS tasked itself to provide science support to policymaking, and in this way facilitated the implementation of ecosystem-based management of the environmental issues in the Baltic Sea region. The Baltic Sea Action Plan builds upon four mutually interlinked segments corresponding to four major environmental challenges in the Baltic Sea, namely (1) eutrophication, (2) hazardous substances, (3) biodiversity and nature conservation, and (4) maritime activities It highlights two crosscutting methodological issues: developing assessment tools and methodologies and strengthening the governance and management through increased public awareness, credible cost–benefit analysis, improved cost– efficiency of measures and functioning funding mechanisms. In addition to providing scientific outputs supporting the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan, as summarized in this AMBIO issue, scientists of the BONUS? In BONUS?, RECOCA focused on processes in the catchment and used a multimodel
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