Last of February the Swedish Government Official Report “Report on decreased eutrophication by enhanced local actions” was published. The main suggestions include:

• Invest in local catchment officers
  The report describes the ongoing project where local catchment officers in 20 pilot areas have been working since 2018. The report suggests that Sweden eventually is in need of about 80 catchment officers.
• Facilitate exceptions from the right of public access to shorelines
  Due to the overall restriction of building closer than a 100 meters from a lake, river or sea in Sweden many landowners hesitate in constructing larger wetlands (in this sense referred to as a lake) since they then cannot use their land or build new buildings close to their new wetland. An exception from the protection of shorelines are therefore suggested.
• Introduce result-based payments schemes for eutrophication mitigation measures in CAP
  The Swedish Board of Agriculture is testing this result-based approach for payment schemes within WP4 in Waterdrive.
• Enhance the national payment scheme (LOVA) for mitigation measures
  LOVA supports landowners that want to mitigate nutrient runoff via measures like liming and constructing wetlands.
• The Swedish Board of Agriculture and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is suggested to be commissioned by the Government to research new rules for horse keeping
  The steadily increasing amount of horses in Sweden impacts the nutrient runoff from land. The impact and responsibilities for horse owners is suggested to be investigated.

Matilda Valman, South Baltic Water District Authority