American Environmental Scientist Named the 2011 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate - SIWI

Stephen R. Carpenter, Professor of Zoology and Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, will receive the 2011 Stockholm Water Prize. This announcement was made today in connection with the UN World Water Day.

Professor Carpenter's groundbreaking research has shown how lake ecosystems are affected by the surrounding landscape and by human activities. His findings have formed the basis for concrete solutions on how to manage lakes.

Professor Carpenter, 59, is recognised as one of the world's most influential environmental scientists in the field of ecology. By combining theoretical models and large-scale lake experiments he has reframed our understanding of freshwater environments and how lake ecosystems are impacted by humans and the surrounding landscape.

The Stockholm Water Prize Nominating Committee emphasises the importance of Professor Carpenter's contributions in helping us understand how we affect lakes through nutrient loading, fishing, and introduction of exotic species.

"Professor Carpenter has shown outstanding leadership in setting the ecological research agenda, integrating it into a socio-ecological context, and in providing guidance for the management of aquatic resources," noted the Stockholm Water Prize Nominating Committee.

The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1991 and presented annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute to an individual, organisation or institution for outstanding water-related activities. The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate receives USD 150,000 and a crystal sculpture specially designed and created by Orrefors.


H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who is the patron of the Prize, will formally present Professor Carpenter with the 2011 Stockholm Water Prize at a Royal Award Ceremony in Stockholm City Hall on August 25 during the 2011 World Water Week in Stockholm.

On receiving the news, Professor Carpenter said: "I am thrilled. Many great people have received the prize over the years, and there are many others whose work is worth rewarding. It is a great honour to be selected. The prize will increase my resolve and sense of obligation to work on emerging issues of freshwater, such as climate change and the connections of food and water security."

Linking lake and land. Professor Carpenter is best known for his research on trophic cascades in lakes - a concept which describes how impacts on any species in an ecosystem will cascade down, or up, the food chain. For example, overfishing of large fish in a lake can result in an increase of small fish, thus decreasing the abundance of zooplankton further down the food chain. In extension, this would increase the growth of algae and amplify the effects of eutrophication. Those findings have influenced concrete strategies for dealing with eutrophication and have provided a practical framework for the management of freshwater resources, resulting for example in the understanding that it might not be enough to reduce the emissions of nutrients to a lake in order to overcome the problems, but that one might need to change the composition of the fish community as well. In addition, Professor Carpenter’s research has proved to have broad applicability to other ecosystems than lakes.

Source: SIWI