Effectively coordinated environmental monitoring is essential to gain a comprehensive picture of the environmental situation. Collaboration on monitoring promotes understanding and involvement among wider circles, and it has benefits for the economy too.
Coordinated monitoring provides results that are comparable across different measurement programmes and which can be accessed and used by all workers concerned with monitoring the state of the environment.
Government, business and individuals all contribute
Results that can be used in describing and analysing the state of the environment are produced by different programmes run by a range of organisations.
The following organisations are involved:
- The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency coordinates environmental monitoring in Sweden and implements, together with the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM), the national environmental monitoring programme. The national environmental monitoring activities are funded by these Agencies.
- The county administrative boards coordinate environmental monitoring at the regional and local (municipal) levels.
- The local authorities monitor the environment to provide environmental information for their own needs. Under the Environmental Code, local authorities must set standards for self-monitoring by companies in their area. National regulations and ordinances require them to collect information on the quality of air and bathing water in urban areas. This information is used also for international reporting.
- Sectoral agencies carry out studies to monitor and advance the environmental objectives in their respective sectors and to evaluate their environmental performance.
- Expert agencies such as SMHI (the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute), the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU), the National Land Survey (LMV), and the Swedish Species Information Centre at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), monitor the state of the environment within their respective fields.
- Companies carry out internal control and supervision as specified by the Environmental Code.
- Research institutions and other organisations that carry out long-running field experiments may produce results that are relevant to environmental monitoring.
- Individuals also contribute valuable information about the environment, often through non-governmental organisations.