Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Region

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to contribute a full paper to this Special Issue on Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Climate Change in the Baltic Sea Region. The Issue focuses on climate change in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) context and is open for researchers from different disciplines, within natural science, engineering, social science, and the humanities, as well as interdisciplinary researchers. We welcome original research papers, either with a focus on empirical results or elaborating on theory, as long as it is of relevance to climate change in the BSR. We especially welcome presentations of research findings having an inter-/multidisciplinary approach based on co-operation between colleagues in the Baltic Sea Region.

Research on climate change and its impacts has been active and is ongoing in all Baltic Sea countries. The first initiative to collect results from the region was in 2008, when an international team of authors compiled the Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea Basin (BACC Author Team, 2008). Another update was published in 2015 to evaluate the development in the region (BACC II Author Team, 2015). A severe common challenge of the present time is to handle the consequences of climate change in the BSR (e.g., heavy rains, floods, wild fires, increases in temperature both on land and in water, and an increase of invasive flora and fauna affecting the ecosystems and the biodiversity). The Baltic Sea is affected by climate change in different ways; there are five main factors: sea level rise; storm surges; and changes in ice cover, temperature, and salinity. The consequences of climate change present challenges of both local and national character, which require co-operation in research, policy, planning, and business. Therefore, the development of common views and measurements for adaptation, mitigation strategies, and plans for practical implementation is of major concern.

We welcome scientific contributions related to the following topics:

• The Baltic Sea Climate System;
• Natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change in the BSR;
• Climate change observed in the BSR;
• Ecological and socio-economic impacts and risks associated with climate change in the BSR;
• Prevention and mitigation of climate change in the BSR;
• Adaptation and solutions of climate change in the BSR;
• Economic transition towards a climate change economy in the BSR;
• Climate change, policy, planning and implementation in the BSR;
• Social transformation, movements and lifestyles related to climate change in the BSR;
• The role of technology in the climate change transition in the BSR;
• Certainties and uncertainties in climate change research.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Madeleine Granvik
Prof. Dr. Aistė Balžekienė
Guest Editors

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