Climate Change Impact on Water Environment in Latvia (KALME)

Generic goal of the KALME project was to assess the short-, medium-, and long-term impact of climate change on the environment and the ecosystems of the inland waters of Latvia and the Latvian part of the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, it set out to create a scientific basis for the adaptation of environmental and sectorial policies to climate change. To this end, the Program created several mutually non-controversial scenarios of climate regime-determining parameters, it assessed possible impacts of climate change on the quality of Latvian inland waters, their availability, flood and drought risk, in order to facilitate drainage basin management adaptation and to secure a sustainable use of water resources. Finally, it forecasted the possible climate change impact on the physical regime, coastal dynamics, bio-geo-chemical regime, and ecosystems of the Baltic Sea, to facilitate protection of marine environmental quality, biological diversity, and sustainable use of its resources and services.