Sweden’s environmental objectives – on a new basis   Expanded annual report of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency on the environmental quality objectives 2011 Revised version of Report 6420 REPORT 6433 – MAY 2011

This diagram shows emissions of greenhouse gases in Sweden, overall and by sector. It shows a downward trend in emissions since 1998. The economic downturn in 2009 affected industrial output and freight transport, and was a factor behind the low emissions that year, compared with 2007 and 2008. Emissions in 2009 were 17 per cent below their 1990 level.

Pollutant levels in urban areas of Sweden are falling Pollutant levels in urban areas of Sweden are falling. The index shown here is an average measure of air quality during the colder half of the year in some 30 Swedish local authority areas, weighted by population. The diagram covers the period 2000/01–2008/09. The lower the index, the lower the concentrations of pollutants more people are exposed to.

Swedish emissions of nitrogen oxides have fallen steadily since 1990 Swedish emissions of nitrogen oxides have fallen steadily since 1990. The section of the bars that has decreased most is “Other transport”, primarily owing to reduced emissions from passenger transport.

Persistent organic pollutants still occur in human breast milk Persistent organic pollutants still occur in human breast milk. Concentrations show only a slow decline, despite reductions in the use and release of these substances. Persistent compounds of this kind also occur widely in products, buildings and the environment. This diagram is based on studies of first-time mothers in the Uppsala region, and shows that PBDEs (brominated flame retardants), dioxins, PCBs and DDE (a breakdown product of DDT) are all present in breast milk.

Swedish emissions of ozone-depleting CFCs from different products have fallen very substantially since the 1980s. The main source of emissions today is leakage from equipment and structures incorporating insulating plastics that contain CFCs, such as refrigerators, cold-store walls, insulation of district heating pipes, and wall insulation.

The incidence of skin cancer continues to rise The incidence of skin cancer continues to rise. This is true of both milder forms of skin cancer and the more serious form malignant melanoma. The upward trend is difficult to reverse, chiefly because it takes time to change attitudes to sunbathing and behaviour patterns that affect exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

Inputs of nitrogen to the sea fell by around 22 per cent from 1995 to 2006, while phosphorus inputs decreased by some 11 per cent over the same period. The figures for 2010 are estimates, based on emissions continuing to decline at the same rate as between 2000 and 2006.

Year by year, the number of rivers and streams in Sweden with freshwater pearl mussels (Margaritifera margaritifera) is gradually increasing. In 2010, populations of the species were discovered in ten new watercourses. As far as we know, there are currently 595 watercourses with pearl mussels in Sweden. Recruitment has been observed in 257, or 43 per cent, of them. In most of the recruiting rivers and streams, however, the proportion of small, i.e. young, mussels is very low. The presence of pearl mussels and changes in the reproductive success of populations provide a measure of both water quality and physical disturbance of running waters. A viable, successfully reproducing pearl mussel population is a sign of an ecosystem that is functioning well in many respects, with little human disturbance. In Sweden, the freshwater pearl mussel has disappeared from roughly half the watercourses in which it occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. Its decline is due to a range of factors: pearl fishing, log driving, forestry and agriculture, acidification, eutrophication, channelisation, drainage, barriers to migration, river regulation, and stocking of alien species. To safeguard the pearl mussel’s survival in Sweden – and prevent it disappearing from many more rivers and streams – restoration measures need to be undertaken. Greater consideration for the freshwater environment and, in certain cases, some form of protection of watercourses and their immediate surroundings may be necessary. (Note: The diagram shown here is a revised version of the one in the original report.)

Over a third of Sweden’s municipal groundwater sources lack a water protection area. However, most sources without such protection are small. This means that only a small proportion, roughly 8 per cent, of the municipal groundwater abstracted comes from unprotected sources. Efforts to protect municipal and large private water sources need to continue. In addition, existing water protection areas should be reviewed.

For several fish stocks, the situation remains serious, and in some cases it has become worse. For the cod stock of the Kattegat, for instance, the situation is now highly critical. Despite a 98 per cent reduction of the total allowable catch (TAC) since 2000, the spawning stock biomass has declined by more than 80 per cent over the same period.

Across the country as a whole, 232 mire sites listed in the 1994 Mire Protection Plan for Sweden have still to be protected. A site is defined as having long-term protection if the whole of the area is protected as a national park, nature reserve, habitat protection area or Natura 2000 site and/or is covered by a nature conservation agreement. Of the 119 new sites of high conservation value that were discovered when the Mire Protection Plan was revised in 2007, 104 still have to be given long-term protection.

In conjunction with harvesting of forests (regeneration felling), consideration is to be shown for a number of phenomena referred to in regulations issued under the Swedish Forestry Act. As this diagram makes clear, the phenomena in question occur to a varying extent in the forest landscape, with “soil and water” and “uncommon trees and shrubs” most widespread. The diagram shows the proportions of these phenomena for which full, partial or insignificant consideration was judged to have been shown. In many cases, proper consideration is shown during harvesting, but there are also shortcomings in this regard.

Pasture land is one of the most species-rich habitat types of the farmed landscape. It is also important in terms of cultural heritage and opportunities for people to experience a rich and varied agricultural landscape. Trends regarding pasture land are therefore a good indicator of progress on key aspects of the environmental quality objective A Varied Agricultural Landscape. Large pasture areas are managed with agri-environment payments under the Rural Development Programme. In recent years, however, the total area has decreased somewhat, to around 431,000 hectares. The marked increase in 2005 was probably a temporary effect of the introduction of the single farm payment scheme.

The number of light off-road vehicles registered as being in use indicates the potential number actually used, and hence indirectly the scale of damage to soil and vegetation and the levels of noise arising. As well as snowmobiles, the figures shown here include four-wheel all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), which have risen sharply in number in recent years. The latter are believed to cause greater wear and tear than snowmobiles, as they are mainly driven on ground unprotected by snow.

One of the measures required to achieve the environmental quality objective A Good Built Environment is a strengthening of land use planning. More local authorities need to have access, for example, to up-to-date programmes and strategies for sustainable transport, cultural values in the built environment, green space and water bodies, and energy use/energy efficiency. At present, roughly half of Sweden’s municipalities have access to such programmes and strategies.

The trend regarding threatened species is moving in the wrong direction. In 2005, 8.4 per cent of species included in the Red List of Swedish Species were classed as threatened, i.e. critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable. In 2010, the corresponding figure was 9.3 per cent (1,942 species, out of 20,800 assessed, were classed as threatened).