Environmental monitoring in general with

Swedish examples, Tove Lundeberg, SEPA

- Swedish EPA & environmental objectives

- State monitoring
- Operator self monitoring and supervision
- Quality assurance

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The Swedish Environmental
Protection Agency
• Sweden’s central environmental authority
• Established in 1967
• Approximately 600 employees

The Swedish EPA’s tasks

• To ensure environmental policy decisions
are implemented
• To provide the Government with
expert knowledge
• To participate in international
environmental efforts

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 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
following up the environmental objectives

Reduced Climate A Safe Radiation Thriving Wetlands

Impact Environment

Zero Sustainable
Clean Air Euthropication Forests

Natural Flourishing A Varied Agricultural

Acidification Only Lakes & Streams Landscape

A Non-Toxic Good-Quality A Magnificent Mountain

Environment Groundwater Landscape

A Protective A Balanced Marine A Good Built

Ozone Layer Environment… Environment

A Rich Diversity of
Plant and Animal Life

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 [The longer text does not
need translation. You may
want to translate the
headings though]

Naturvårdsverket | Swedish Environmental Protection Agency 2019-04-23 4

 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
a central activity in environmental protection work

Strategy
Measures

Adjust-
ments
Monitoring

Evaluation

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 Environmental monitoring
– part of environmental management

Government
Overall monitoring

Companies Communities/public
Self-monitoring Participatory monitoring

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 The Swedish Coordinated Environmental Monitoring Programme -
monitoring data is produced and used at different levels:

• International level (”the global picture”)

− EU directives
− Conventions
• National level
− SEPA and Sectoral Authorities
• Regional level
− County Administration Boards
• Local / enterprise level
− Companies (self monitoring)

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 International, National and Regional levels -
WHO are doing the work?

• Swedish Environmental Protection Agency

− coordination, planning, contracting
− systems for quality assurance
− information strategies
− financing and contracting (partly; funding from the government)
• Data suppliers
− planning, monitoring, collecting, analysis and assessment of data
on the state of the environment
§ national authorities and specialist agencies
§ universities
§ research institutes
§ companies (associations)
§ public
• Data centers
− store and supply quality assured monitoring results and ensure
accessibility of the data

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 Multi partner cooperation
Example
Swedish
Meteorological and
Swedish Museum
of Natural History Hydrological
Institute

SEPA:s
University of
national Agricultural
marine Sciences
monitoring
Companies

County Other
administrative universities
boards

Associations for
Water Geological
Conservation Survey
National Food
Administration

Swedish Radiation Coast Guard

Safety Authority

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 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

National and regional programmes

¿ Air
¿ Landscape
¿ Mountains
¿ Forests
¿ Wetlands
¿ Agricultural lands
¿ Freshwater
¿ Sea & Coastal areas
¿ Health related environmental monitoring
¿ Toxic substances coordination

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Health related monitoring

• Start 1993
• Objective: long term monitoring of factors in the environment
that affect human health
• By:
− estimating human exposure to hazardous substances /
factors in the environment
− measuring markers of exposure
− analysing relationships between exposure and health
problems
• Concentrations in: mothers´ milk, blood, serum, urin or hair
(depending on substance)

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Supervision and self-monitoring in Sweden

• Environmental code
IMPROVE! PLAN!
Need
• Inspection and enforcement –
Improvement
independent authorities of plan
Record

• Transparency Plans
Resources
• Operator self-monitoring Competence

− Self-monitoring system Follow up and

Evaluation - Implement
− Stay informed of the operation’s Effects
impact on the environment DO!
− Continuous CHECK!
− Annual report

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 Purpose of inspection and
enforcement
• Implement the will of the state
• Ensure rule of law
• Ensure a level playing field
• Investigate complaints from the public

Independent authorities

Transparency
The principle of public access to official records
üAllows for media or citizens to have a watching eye on
the authorities
üAll material is (normally) available for the public
Decisions can be appealed by a number of stake-holders

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Community based monitoring in Sweden
• The Swedish Species Information Center
• Non-profit organizations
• Organizations of recreational hunting and
fishing
• Local initiatives
• Coordinated phenology network (climate
change)
• Marine litter
• Research projects
• Management of land areas and population
of predators

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 From LKAB:s homepage
- Complaints from the public

- Effects on reindeer herding,

cooperation between company
and Saami villages

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 Overall strategy for quality

The results should be relevant, reliable and easily available.

Relevance
• Follow up on the environmental quality criteria.
• Choose parameters that are relevant and possible to assess.

Reliability
• Data series of necessary quality, and coverage in time and space.
• Standardized and recommended methods
• Data quality should be subject to continuous evaluation.

Availability
• The results should be well documented, and made available to all to
a low or no cost.
• The results and the way they are conveyed need to be customized to
the audiences.

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Quality assurance: Handbook

Purpose: all monitoring results should be

comparable
• Organisation and structure of the environmental monitoring
work
• Planning and design of monitoring activities
• How to cooperate
• Methods and standards
• Methods for quality assurance and quality control
• Data structure and data management

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Some conclusions / experiences

• Structured, long term monitoring

• Cooperation Authorities – Scientists and expert institutions
• Monitoring « Research

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 12.25-12.45 Data, information and
communication, Mats, Tove

- data handling and availability

- open and transparent data
- presentation, information
- reporting
- communication

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 Data strategy
Data on
Internet

Data centres

Processed
information

2019-04-23 20
Naturvårdsverket | Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

National and
European reports
Regional and global
Conventions

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 Time series - Lead in moss samples

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 Example of open data

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 Thank you!

Foto Britta Hedlund

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