News

Microalgae are a renewable resource. They absorb CO2 as they grow and reproduce themselves at a rapid pace. It is time to put them to use. 

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.

The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) has recently been awarded funding to lead a new EU project that will investigate the interaction between all European regulations that affect governance of Europe’s seas and coasts.

Some may have never heard of the term Cryosphere, though most know where the Earth is covered by ice and snow either seasonally or year-round. Climate change is happening in the Cryosphere faster and more dramatically than anywhere else on earth. The first State of the Cryosphere report, reviewed and supported by nearly 50 leading cryosphere scientists and with over half of them Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) authors, has been released and will come out annually every year until 2030.

At the Aurora hydrothermal vent field, 82.5N, the HACON project successfully sampled rocks, fluids, sediments and fauna to better understand the functioning of the deep Arctic Ocean.

Ten innovative EU projects to build ocean observation systems that provide input for evidence-based management of the ocean and the Blue Economy, have joined forces in the strong cluster ‘Nourishing Blue Economy and Sharing Ocean Knowledge’. Under the lead of the EuroSea project, the group published a joint policy brief listing recommendations for sustainable ocean observation and management.

Persistent, mobile (PM) substances are being recognized as serious threats to the safety of water resources. In many cases, drinking water supplies have to be purified using expensive technologies because of contamination by PM substances. As part of this effort, a new, wide-reaching European Research project with NIVA as one of the partners, Zero Pollution of Persistent, Mobile substances, (ZeroPM) will start in autumn 2021.

We have grown out of our premises in Oslo Science Park and will during August 2021 move to Økernveien 94. The formal change of address will take place on 16. August.

In a time of environmental awareness, spurred on by the possibility that our world is threatened by climate change, it is important to remember that there are other anthropogenic pressures, which are also essential for addressing the protection of the marine and coastal environment. Pollution is a global, complex issue that contributes to biodiversity loss and poor environmental health and comes from the production and release of many of the synthetic chemicals that we use in our daily lives. Chemical contaminants are often underrepresented as a major contributor of environmental deterioration.

Something has happened in the ocean – completely out of view – that destroyed Norway’s kelp forests across an estimated 8400 km2.

In mid-April, the three Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) on Water, Oceans and Antimicrobial Resistance announced the results from the AquaticPollutants Joint Transnational Call. NIVA are happy to be partner in two of the projects funded.

NIVA's ecotox laboratory is the first lab in Norway to be accepted as a formal member of the EU-NETVAL (European Union Network of Laboratories for the Validation of Alternative Methods).

The contaminant concentrations in the marine environment are decreasing along the Norwegian coastline – but there are some exceptions. In many urban areas, long-term trends for mercury in cod fillet are upwards. In the Inner Oslofjord, mercury levels in cod fillet have increased over the past 35 years, but leveled out during the past 10 years.

REV Ocean and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) coordinate actions against plastic pollution, action for blue forests, and collection of ocean data through marine drones and FerryBox ships of opportunity.

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. 

OPINION: Near half of the global plastic leakage from land to sea comes from a few countries in Southeast Asia. To overcome the plastic problem, we need to treat the cause and not just the symptoms. We must turn the spotlight on the sources.

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.

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.