For instance, reforestation leading to brownification, i.e. the process of humic substances from forests and moors, which often are coloured brown due to attached iron, affects rivers and coastal habitats (Kritzberg, 2017). Indirect drivers of change, such as institutions and governance systems, refer to how people and societies organise themselves and their interactions with nature at different scales. Their effects can be beneficial or detrimental to society, partly depending on the context. These include natural climate and weather patterns, extreme events such as droughts, floods and volcanic eruptions, and specifically for the Nordic region, infrequent water exchange between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, as well as occasional epizootics and plant diseases. Some examples of anthropogenic direct drivers are those resulting from intensification or abandonment of land use for agriculture, forestry, transport, extraction of gravel from the seabed, mining and construction and development in coastal areas. Some drivers are linked to discharges of nutrients, hazardous substances, climate change produced by anthropogenic carbon emissions leading to pollution of soil, water or air.