by: Ulla Vänttinen
An EU-funded team of researchers in Finland has studied how climate change impacts nature and the various spheres that depend on it, namely agriculture, forestry, fishing and tourism. The study was funded under the VACCIA project (Vulnerability assessment of ecosystem services for climate change impacts and adaptation), which was supported by the EU LIFE+ programme. The three-year project ended in December 2011. The results of the study will help decision-makers, industry and the general public, and give Finland the support it needs to adapt to a changing climate.
Nearly 100 experts from the Finnish Environment Institute, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and the Universities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä and Oulu were contributing to this study. They predicted the climate in Finland will warm more during the winter season instead of the summer season.
During the summer months, Finns will have to deal with more hot days and longer hot periods. Thermal winter, which is the period as determined on the basis of temperature, will become shorter. In their study, the team has been probing the effects of climate change and the possibilities for change in various environments within the forest, agricultural and water areas. They point out that the tourism sector will have to adapt to the lack of snow and ice across the Northern region.
Modelling estimates in the study show how forestry and fishing will be significantly impacted by the changing conditions. An objectives of the VACCIA Action 9: ‘Assessment of impacts and adaptation measures for forest production; Case study at Northern Häme and Lapland’ was to clarify how climate change will influence the forest production and production conditions and how that will influence the productivity of alternative silvicultural schemes. Main results of this action are found at:
http://www.environment.fi/default.asp?node=24077&lan=en
More information about the project at:
http://www.environment.fi/default.asp?contentid=402669&lan=EN
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