I’ll start with the idea of sustainable development. How do you understand it?

I think that nowadays the most important thing is to leave something to future generations. This is an issue I think about a lot because I deal with water protection. When I see reservoirs degrading, I realise that improving water quality is almost impossible. I wonder if our children’s children will ever be able to see a clean lake again. The expansive lifestyle of our generation may mean that in the future some people won’t know the issues that are the subject of our concern. This is probably the most important goal of sustainable development. As a person working in the sphere of nature and natural resources, I think that we should live in harmony with nature, i.e., maintaining biological balance, because we’re only part of it. Perhaps the most difficult goal of sustainable development is to reduce cultural, economic, and financial differences. We should take action to ensure that access to goods, education, science, and technology is as balanced as possible.

Have you noticed any positive changes in this regard? Has anything changed yet?

I think public awareness has increased. I always consider this problem in terms of human awareness because I’ve noticed that even in perfectly prepared projects in which I deal with water protection, something ultimately goes wrong if there is a lack of knowledge about the processes and differences during the performance of the tasks. I think we’ve already started doing a lot in this area. Recently, I signed a cooperation agreement with Ethiopia, where living conditions are extremely difficult, but they don’t give up and strive for individual development. This type of cooperation in the sphere of UNESCO activities shows that they are very willing and open very much. I also work in Norway, our students go to Ethiopia on exchanges, researchers run projects with employees from Ethiopia. It’s not so bad.

That’s wonderful.

You can hold workshops and courses there.

This is good information. Last year, a group of people came to me as part of the Erasmus Mundus programme for training in the methodology of field and laboratory research in the sphere of water protection. It was an extraordinary experience when young students from Africa and Central America showed us their passion for learning and desire to develop.

Do you conduct research related to the areas of sustainable development? If so, could you say something about it?

It seems to me that my entire professional career, but also my great passion, is the protection of water resources. This is probably the basis of all existence and functioning. I’ve been researching aquatic ecosystems throughout my professional life, but especially for the last fifteen years, I’ve been carrying out various types of projects aimed at improving the quality of lake waters. What hurts the most is human expansion into water-related goods. The amount of water that circulates in nature is constant. However, water quality and available resources are significantly decreasing. We must be aware of this – and we don’t understand it. Everyone wants to use water. We have access to running water – this is not the case everywhere in the world, we know that water resources are distributed unevenly, but this doesn’t mean that where there is a lot of water, we can waste it. It’s encouraging to know that my contribution to research can help improve water quality. We should talk about water quality at all levels, not just in science communication. Cooperation with the local community and local government officials who are responsible for activities related to the protection of surface water quality is important.

Why did you focus on water?

A bit by accident. When I was wondering what studies to choose, I came across a university where water protection was the first and only major in Poland, and probably the second major in Europe. I was in an environment where the lake reclamation method was employed for the first time in the world. We can have alternative energy sources, and we can create various things, but water has no substitute. This is the only substance whose lack will make us unable to live and function. We must take care of the quality of water and educate in this area because its quality depends on it. The future of the planet depends only on us personally, each of us, on various levels, starting from the household and ending with industry.

And what solutions contributing to the attainment of these sustainable development goals could be introduced at our university?

I think that the University of Gdańsk does a lot in this respect. One such example is the Limnological Station where I work. This station is not only a scientific centre, but also concept for promoting knowledge, a centre for the exchange of ideas in the international and Polish environment, and at the same time a place of close cooperation with the local environment, i.e., residents and local authorities. I think this station is the cradle of integration and knowledge about the water-related environment. I also plan to develop ideas related to citizen science so that everyone can participate in these activities. Because there is nothing more beautiful than a situation in which a scientist can share his or her knowledge and, in my case, applies this knowledge by using various methods of protection and reclamation of water reservoirs. We also have great support from the University. I’m delighted that we can count on such a great understanding of our needs and such great cooperation.

That’s true. Even when we apply for European funds, in the application form we must specify how we intend to cooperate with knowledge users.

I’m glad that you’ve confirmed it. Water protection and reclamation projects teach me so many things and touch so many different areas. Here money isn’t enough, because it can be wasted if you don’t find the right person, a team that will carry it out, smart teams that will want to do something for the environment. I always try to understand the aquatic ecosystem, to be like a representative of the lake, after all, it can’t speak. It seems to me that integration in doing ambitious tasks is very important.

That’s right, the lake can’t talk, but it’s alive.

I always tell my students that if they eat a lot, they’ll eventually destroy their bodies. It’s the same with a lake – it can absorb pollution, but up to a certain point. Later, unfortunately, it dies.

What role can education play in achieving the agenda’s goals?

Education at a higher, academic level should be some kind of privilege. We strive to educate as many people as possible. This is not entirely the point, because I believe – and here is also a huge task facing academic teachers – that students should be taught to connect certain facts, to approach learning and life holistically. I really think we are responsible for this. The form of lectures – theoretical classes – isn’t that interesting. I believe that certain issues should be shown to students in practice. Let them feel it. Later, they will become conscious citizens and will bring their knowledge, skills, and competences to their environment, to their homes, to their children. It seems to me that reproductive knowledge is not enough; it can be taught to anyone. But sensitisation to the goals of the agenda in a global aspect is important in education.

Do you undertake such topics in your teaching activities?

Yes. I try to introduce many things from experience, intuitively. Of course, there are methods and mechanisms that we use. I talk to students a lot and discuss things. Thanks to this, there is a flow of knowledge, they are very interested. This is wonderful. That’s why I regret that we don’t have stationary lectures now, only online, although discussion is still possible. During my classes, I organise a lot of field activities so that students can get to know every process from the beginning. For example, when I need to collect a sample, I show students how to do it, how to label it, and then interpret and process it. I also have a lot of understanding for the student. I treat him or her as my partner to whom I want to pass on my knowledge. I prefer discussions, I always try to learn the arguments for and against, so that students can exchange arguments with each other so that it can be a creative conversation. In my opinion, a student should experience substantive discussion at university.

Yes, I agree with that too. I run workshops on public debate.

Exactly, I couldn’t find the word.

It’s the same.

You can talk about any topic, but my job is to teach you how to use arguments. Because that’s what knowledge is all about, we can’t quarrel, we just must have arguments for and against to discuss specific issues.

I’ll come back to the agenda. What challenges and barriers do you notice in connection with the goals of the 2030 Agenda?

I think what scares me the most is the global aspect of the agenda because there are such huge economic, social, and cultural disproportions in the world. There is a lot going on in the context of water management. In countries where we have free access to water, we don’t understand the limitations associated with it. Another problem is climate change, which affects even what happens in lakes. Until recently, we thought that lakes lose oxygen at the bottom because it’s used to mineralise pollutants. However, it turns out that climate change – warming and rising water temperature in the lake – is an additional cause of lakes losing oxygen at the bottom. This is something unbelievable, oxygen is depleting at such a huge, rapid rate that it may have an impact – it will certainly have an impact – on the entire lake ecosystem. Just imagine, we can still adapt to climate change or emigrate, but the lake won’t pack up and go somewhere, it must exist and function. Therefore, the entire food chain may change. And I hadn’t realised earlier that the scale of this phenomenon was so large. If the problem concerns an ordinary lake, what about the entire society? I am terrified of migration related to climate change…

Professor, what is the role of the European Union in supporting the achievement of the sustainable development goals?

This is a very difficult question, see how difficult it is to come to common conclusions, to take joint actions in a smaller group, let alone implement the set goals in countries with different cultures and economies. I think that the integration and unity of the Union is the basis that sends a signal outside that we can discuss with each other – we should, but we also need to be consistent and have one front to support each other and promote good practices.

Thank you very much. I have one more question. Which of the sustainable development goals is the most important for you and why?

Above all, the continuation of opportunities for equal development for our generation and future generations. From the perspective of water resources, my dream is that our children’s children will have a similar opportunity to use the natural environment as I do. I often encounter something like this: a person comes to me and says: “My father swam in this lake, my grandfather swam in this lake, and now I can’t swim here.” Unfortunately, this lake has a limited capacity. It can take a certain number of contaminants, but not an infinite amount. If this happens, it will continue to degrade rapidly. And that’s what I’m most afraid of. That’s why I would like us to do everything to make sure that the next generations have at least the same standard of living and the same goods as us.

So, it can work? Do we have a chance to preserve it?

I hope so. We certainly need to do everything to ensure that future generations have the same or even better conditions.

Interview by dr Elżbieta Czapka.