Project country Poland
Poland
Eutrophication means over-fertilization of the marine environment and is currently the biggest challenge for the Baltic Sea. It affects almost 97% of this area. Currently, about 50% of nutrients flowing into the Baltic Sea come from agriculture. Their source is animal excrements and excess fertilizers that plants cannot absorb. A sea affected by eutrophication dies due to excess nutrients. The load of nutrients, brought by rivers and other watercourses, is determined by: the size of the catchment area in a given country, the number of people (Poland has 45% of the population of the Baltic catchment area), the size of the agricultural area (50% of agricultural areas of the Baltic catchment area are located in Poland). It is estimated that about 18% of the Baltic Sea area are anaerobic zones, and about 28% of the area are hypoxic zones as a result of eutrophication.
In recent years, the inflow of nutrients through rivers to the Baltic Sea has decreased. Much emphasis has been placed in Poland on promoting marine-friendly agriculture, including activities that limit the flow of nutrients (e.g. the use of buffer zones, maintaining mid-field ponds or precise selection of fertilizer doses), although this still places Poland in first place among the Baltic countries in terms of the amount of nutrients discharged, but if this load were to be calculated per capita, Poland would be in last place in this classification.