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On Friday the 20th of September, over 40 participants from the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) world congress visited Gaustadbekkendalen and Oslo Science City for a walk and talk. The fully booked tour was one of several options the conference attendees could choose from in the Oslo area, and was led by NIVA.

Over the next four years, the new European Topic Centre for Biodiversity and Ecosystems (ETC BE) will compile, systematise, and assess the knowledge base for European environmental policies.

A new overview article on produced water describes Norwegian environmental research in the area over the past 30 years. The article looks at, among other things, whether fish and other animals are harmed by produced water discharges, and whether the ecosystems in the Barents Sea may be extra vulnerable to discharges.

The green shift implies that society will rely more on renewable biomass resources for the provision of food, fodder, fibre and fuel. Such a transition will have benefits but also trade-offs. In a special issue from the Nordic Centre of Excellence Biowater, NIVA has contributed with studies on the role of forests and forestry in the context of the green shift. 

A variety of ballast water compliance monitoring devices have been developed and several novel approaches are currently being explored. However, rigorous, transparent and standardized verification testing is needed for these devices to be adopted and implemented globally, by multiple administrations to enforce compliance monitoring. To address this need, a new protocol has been developed to serve as a standardized framework for the verification testing of CMDs. The protocol has been peer-reviewed by NIVA.

A new research project has looked at microplastics in marine bivalves from 100 sites spread throughout much of the Nordic waters. Microplastics were found in 4 of the 5 bivalve species investigated, and there was a huge variation in the occurrence and type of microplastics.

Researchers at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) have developed a new dosing system for continual treatment of salmon lice directly in cages. The overall impact to the environment is expected to be minimal and the fish are relieved of the stress associated with handling during treatments.

While ocean acidification was initially perceived as a threat only to the marine realm, the authors of a new publication argue that it is also an emerging human health issue.

A bilateral initiative on exchange of experience and knowledge of remote sensing techniques for the mapping of coastal biological communities through unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has recently been funded through the EEA-grants. The partners are The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), University of Porto.