Press releases

The warming of the Arctic Ocean could generally increase the primary production provided by algae living in sea ice, but the impact varies greatly between latitudes, claims a study published in the renowned scientific journal Science Advances. Since the Arctic marine food web is short, poorly diverse and seasonally driven by limited pulses of energy, the expected changes in primary production can have relevant impacts to the rest of the food web up to humans.

A new assessment of levels of harmful substances in Finnish waters has been completed. According to monitoring activities, harmful levels of mercury, fire retardants and surface treatment agents are found in Finland’s aquatic environment. However, most of the substances being monitored do not constitute a hazard.

Global warming changes the composition of phytoplankton communities in marine ecosystems. In some ecosystems, for example in the Baltic Sea, the composition of phytoplankton communities may shift from diatom predominance towards the dinoflagellate during blooms. This may potentially reduce the carbon flux to higher trophic levels.

The renewed by the Finnish Environment Institute is even clearer than before in guiding people towards tangible actions to reduce the carbon footprint. The user interface of the calculator has been redesigned and can now be used on mobile devices, as well. Climate diet calculator (Ilmastodieetti.fi)

Tampere City Region is strengthening its commitment to strict carbon neutrality targets. As the central city of the region, Tampere joined the Carbon Neutral Municipalities (HINKU) network by decision of its City Board on 1 April. Of the other municipalities in the city region, Lempäälä, Nokia, Pirkkala, Vesilahti and Ylöjärvi were already members of the network. Kangasala and Orivesi are still in the process of preparing their decisions.