In a recent report published on the Finnish Water Restoration and Management Network website, Laura Härkönen from the Finnish Environment Agency writes on the second BlueMissionBANOS Arena in Riga, Latvia. You can find a summary of the article in English below.
In April 2024, the Finnish Water Restoration and Management Network visited the BlueMissionBANOS Arena 2 event organized in Riga. At the event, representatives of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Sweden discussed the promotion of the blue bioeconomy and the protection, restoration and prevention of deterioration of the oceans and inland waters.
As part of the event, a workshop was organized to discuss new approaches and measures to restore watersheds. European restoration projects have recently tested and developed methods with the aim of reducing the internal load of lakes, improving the diversity of water bodies and managing the nutrient loads. The restoration projects discussed at the Mission Arena 2 were united by the effective allocation of restoration efforts and the development of their sustainability, both in terms of the longevity of the results and the environmental and climate sustainability of the method. As a result of the event, a roadmap was produced that supports the Mission’s goals to restore and protect inland waters and oceans by 2030. In order to achieve the goals, it is necessary, among other things, to develop nature-based solutions and incentives, invest in monitoring and cross-sector cooperation. The most important thing is to act – even the smallest restoration and water protection measures are meaningful.
