Transboundary River Basin Data and Information in support of WFD implementation: The cases of Daugava and Nemunas River basins

Through a project financially supported by Swedish EPA, and technically and otherwise managed and supervised by UNEP/GRID-Arendal (www.grida.no), the riparian countries to the Daugava and Nemunas Rivers on eastern side of the Baltic Sea are currently taking part in the DatabasiN project http://enrin.grida.no/databasin/. This project aims to take a transboundary and basin-wide approach at spatial information for the Daugava/Zapdnaya Dvina and Nemunas/Neman river basins. Implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive is a key motivation for the project. These rivers originate in Russia and Belarus and pass through Latvia and Lithuania, before reaching the Baltic Sea.

A first step is to get an overview and assemble the available data and information, to support decision-making and assessment. In practice, this means assembling basin-wide map databases on existing data, primarily from national sources, as well as from global and regional datasets. National data will need to be harmonized to establish basin-wide layers. Some of these steps have already taken place.

The proposed MSc project (20 Swedish points = 20 weeks of work) aims to complement the project focus, placed upon the establishment of an information infrastructure and service, by conducting a simple pressure analysis according to EU WFD terminology. That is an assessment of the key contributors to the pollution, in this case excessive nutrients.

We are seeking a self-driven, highly motivated and GIS competent student, with a blue or green interest, preferably from within the Baltic Sea region, with a level of proficiency in English. The GIS competency should preferably be in ArcGIS.

The MSc project could start sometime during winter 2007.