Sustainable Governance of Aquatic Resources

Background

The scientific quality of Finnish water research was assessed by an international panel of experts in 2007. In its report, the panel noted that the scientific quality of Finnish research in the field is of a high standard. However, the panel also identified a number of development needs to which this proposed research programme is expected to respond. The panel strongly recommended that basic research be stepped up in several sectors of water research.

The Academy of Finland’s four Research Councils, and particularly the Research Council for Biosciences and Environment, has identified a specific need of targeting funding to research on the sustainable governance of aquatic resources. The Academy’s research programme is expected to respond both to the scientific development needs and the societal research needs that have been identified. All these needs are associated, on the one hand, with the Finnish Government Resolution (Water Protection: Policy Orientations through to 2015) and, on the other hand, with research needs emerging from international water policy.  The research programme is expected to raise the scientific quality of Finnish water research and increase its societal impact.

By focusing research toward the direction recommended by the international evaluation of Finnish water research, the research programme is expected to contribute to upgrading the scientific level of Finnish water research and achieving both national and international objectives of the Finnish water sector.

Aims

Key aims of the research programme:

• The Research Programme on Sustainable Governance of Aquatic Resources supports scientific research that contributes to the sustainable governance, adequacy and future safety of water and aquatic resources.
• The research programme contributes to enhancing the scientific standards of water research in Finland. The aim of the programme is to generate new, scientifically sound and relevant knowledge and to create and strengthen national and international networks that can help produce this knowledge. At the same time, the programme will aim to achieve significant societal impact.
• The research programme integrates excellence from different disciplines. Projects selected for inclusion in the interdisciplinary programme are expected to adopt a systemic approach to their subject or at least include multidisciplinary perspectives.
• The aim is to research, analyse and synthesise the aquatic environment as a whole. The main focus is on the sustainable governance of aquatic resources with a view to the securing the increasing future demand for water and the increasing needs for protection.

Additional programme objectives include the following:

• The research programme is aimed at furthering the national and international objectives of the Finnish water sector. It will aim to work as closely as possible with various national stakeholders.
• Practical implementation of the research programme depends upon contact and collaboration with doctoral programmes in different fields. The programme will create a thematic network to integrate all Academy-funded research in the water sector and provide a point of contact for external access.
• The research programme will foster cooperation with Academy of Finland partner countries and with countries that are best suited to research cooperation in the water sector. The aim is to achieve collaboration and exchange with research teams at the highest international level.
• The research programme will aim at distribute information widely about Finnish expertise and competencies in the water sector and to sharpen the profile of Finnish research.

Programme themes

The themes identified for the research programme are designed to create a coherent set of projects that will further the achievement of the programme’s objectives. One of the driving principles behind the programme is interdisciplinarity, and all projects selected for inclusion will be expected to show a multidisciplinary approach. At its best, the programme will involve close collaboration between traditional water sciences (e.g. limnology, hydrology, water ecology), cultural research and social sciences (e.g. sociology, law and economics), traditional natural sciences (e.g. chemistry, physics, mathematics), health sciences (e.g. environmental medicine and public health) and engineering sciences (e.g. environmental engineering, process engineering and metrology).

The following cross-cutting themes are expected to figure prominently in the research programme, although it will not be required that they are incorporated in the research plan of every project:

- Integration of experimental process research and ecosystem modelling and modelling to support decision-making
- Social and societal impacts: valuation, policy analyses, risk management

All projects in the research programme will be encouraged to give special attention to questions of practical application and potential for application.

The three major thematic areas of the programme:

1. Pressures of change on aquatic environments and their management

Issues central to pressures of change include

• land use and planning, quality and adequacy of aquatic resources and water, burden placed on aquatic environments and values related to water use and changes in those values

Issues central to the management of pressures of change include

• policies, strategies and instruments of control and their effectiveness
• analytical and future-oriented risk management and systems-level analysis
• development of technologies

2. Ecosystem services in aquatic environments and safeguarding those services

Issues central to safeguarding ecosystem services include

• identification of ecosystem services and understanding of the processes involved in producing those services
• ecosystem health and productivity
• rehabilitation of water ecosystems and development of biological purification processes
• sustainable use of products based on ecosystem services
• valuation of ecosystem services and related cost-benefit analyses

3. Sustainable use of aquatic resources in the future

Issues central to the sustainable use of aquatic resources include

• systemic analysis of aquatic resources and water resources as part of the green economy
• economic connections to water ecosystem processes and water reserves
• connections of human health and environmental health with water and the quality and availability of water
• social impacts, power relations, institutions and policies related to the use of aquatic resources

Cooperation

The research programme will seek to link with and generate added value together with completed and ongoing research and cooperation programmes, both in Finland and abroad. National cooperation within the programme will be carried out with Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Finnish ministries responsible for this field (e.g. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Environment) and other relevant bodies. The launch of a research programme on aquatic resources is one of the aims specified by the Finnish National Water Programme, which have been funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry, and the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation.

The research programme will expore potential for funding cooperation with European funding agencies (e.g. ESF and national funding agencies) and other selected foreign funding organisations.

Scope

The first call (i.e. call for letters of intent) within the AKVA programme was in September 2011. The projects will be funded during 2012–2016. Academy funding for the programme will come to EUR 11 million.