DAIMON 2

The project DAIMON2 optimised the tools that allow maritime and environmental authorities to more accurately and less costly make decisions on the management of the dumped munitions.

The challenge

Legacy at the bottom of the Baltic Sea

Some 50,000 tons of chemical munitions and 200,000 tons of conventional munitions were dumped into the Baltic Sea after World Wars I and II. So far, there have been no efforts to remove the dangerous legacy from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. However, the recently increasing construction of pipelines, cables and wind farms at sea as well as natural corrosion of dumped containers increase the risk of explosions near populated areas and of contamination of the environment.

Over the years, there was an ongoing discussion on how to assess and manage the environmental risk of dumped ammunition. Although the environmental effects of some of harmful substances, such as arsenic compounds, are well known, in other cases, the knowledge is insufficient to make proper risk assessments.

Thanks to the DAIMON project, maritime administrators and spatial planners, environmental agencies, coastguards and military are more aware of the risk. However, they do not sufficiently use newly developed tools for risk analysis, selection of remediation methods as well as environmental impacts assessment. The DAIMON 2 offers training in using the new tools and develops them further into standard operating procedures for the environmental impact assessment.

Budgets

DAIMON 2
in numbers

0.90

Million

Total
0.66

Million

Erdf
0.00

Million

Eni + Russia
0.03

Million

Norway

Achievements

With the access to the tools developed by the preceding project DAIMON, the partner organisations of DAIMON 2 focused on the practical implementation of the tools and their further optimisation.

Decision support system improved

The DAIMON 2 partners optimised the previously developed decision support system (DSS) for marine chemical and conventional munitions. Such parameters as user experience, performance and understanding of the suggested by the system reports constitute the basis for optimisation of the tool. Thanks to optimisation, the software system contains recommendations in regard to the needed procedures based on the performed risk analysis. In addition, it suggests management strategies to improve the situation assessed by the tool through risk categorisation. Furthermore, the partners finalised the integration of the risk assessment model into the decision support system. The DSS received an upgrade in terms of durability and extended use, being embedded into the Ammunition Cadastre Sea platform (AmuCad.org) and is available for all interested users free of charge.

Besides, the partners organised training on DSS and integrated the received feedback, recommendations and comments to the system. In addition, the participating organisations conducted webinars dedicated to EcoTox toolbox training and the e-learning platform/online tutorial.

The training targeted e.g. environmental agencies, maritime administrations, military, spatial planning, coastguards and offshore investors. The training reached out to more than 200 participants.

Environmental impact assessment procedures included into the decision support system

The DAIMON 2 partners developed 33 Standard/Recommended Operating Procedures (SOPs/ROPs) for environmental impact assessment in offshore areas. The procedures are built on the data from the previously developed EcoTox toolbox factsheets. Besides, the partners introduced new methodologies for detection, impact analysis and monitoring of the dumped conventional and chemical munitions. The methodologies were integrated into the decision support system. Furthermore, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are now considered by the ESPOO convention representatives for possible inclusion as a set of methods in the environmental impact assessment of offshore investment areas with the dumped munition. As an example, the partners presented the standard and recommended operating procedures to offshore companies dealing with building windfarms. The purpose was to raise awareness and consider the inclusion of the methods in the environmental impact assessment of the companies´ investment areas.

Outputs

Optimised decision support system

Decision support system (DSS) presents a support tool for risk categorisation and decision making as regards chemical and conventional munitions in marine space. The system presents software that extracts data from different sources of information and formulates risk analysis covering the location, the condition of the ammunition, the state of biological pollution and the environmental impact. The tool has been upgraded in regard to user experience, overall performance and comprehension of the produced reports. The tool is intended for public authorities responsible for the management of marine space. The DSS is hosted on the Ammunition Cadaster Sea web platform. It is designed as the central data for representatives of the maritime industry, research, politics and civil society with an interest in the removal of ammunition at sea. The platform contains a user manual that provides an overview of the needed steps to get started with the system.

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EcoTox Toolbox training programme

The previously developed EcoTox Toolbox factsheets received an upgrade in terms of new Standard/Recommended Operating Procedures (SOPs/ROPs). The procedures include cost- and time-saving methods for detecting munitions, conducting impact analysis and monitoring dumped munitions. The procedures cover e.g. chemical methods for detecting warfare compounds and degradation objects, biological methods for detecting impact of toxic warfare from munitions and other. The standard/recommended procedures are integrated in decisions support system (DSS). The new procedures are useful for maritime administrations, police and fire brigades´ command posts, rescue services and other marine space practitioners.

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