Ecology of Finland

One of the urgent environmental problems in the country are soil acidification and atmospheric warming due to the impact of natural fuels ^[3] . These problems are internationally recognized, and Finland is addressing them together with other countries of the European Union . Thus, in accordance with the EU regulation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere by 40% by 2030 from the 1990 level ^[4] , Finland intends to reduce emissions to 50% ^[5] .

According to Indian ecologist and Nobel laureate , Finland is at the forefront of countries in terms of adaptability to climate change ^[6] . In 2013, the appearance of the non-typical “Russian salmon” in the northern part of the country in the Tenoyoki River was noted, which is associated with ongoing climate changes ^[7] . The new climate and energy strategy of the Finnish government involves reducing the share of oil in energy production by 20% and increasing the share of wind energy by one third, to 9 terawatt hours by 2025 ^[8] .

In 2012, the Finnish Environment Center compiled a list of the main pollutants in the country's water bodies. These are the Wijinkämäki water treatment plant in Helsinki (it accounts for approximately 20% of Finland’s waste water treatment), the UPM pulp and paper mill in Rauma , the Stora Enso pulp and paper mill in Oulu and the water treatment plant in Jyväskylä ^[9] . Under the new legislation, in the period 2016-2018, sewer systems of up to 100 thousand private houses located in the coastal zone will be reconstructed ^[10] . It was also noted that in the territories bordering with Russia, in connection with the development of tourism, roadsides are heavily polluted with household waste ^[11] .

In 2013, in Finland there were about two thousand companies working with the use of environmental technologies, that is, in the field of . The leader in the development of wastewater treatment methods is the Kemira chemical concern ^[12] .

According to statistics, the average amount of household waste in 2008 was 500 kg per year per capita, and in 2011 increased to 505 kg per person. In 2012, the total amount of household waste in the country amounted to 2.7 million tons, of which almost two-thirds were recycled ^[13] . By the beginning of 2016, a law will be enacted to ban the disposal of biological waste in landfills ^[14] , and it is also planned to reduce the total level of waste to 450 kg per person per year ^[15] . Ordinary Finns are actively involved in the elimination of household garbage on the streets of cities and along roads ^[16] .

Experts note that in the Pieksämäki region, some species of lake fish, as well as edible mushrooms, to date (after pollution caused by the Chernobyl accident in 1986) contain elevated levels of cesium and other radioactive substances , which are not, however, dangerous to human life ^{[17 ]} . A study conducted in 2013 by the Center for Radiation Safety , the Finnish Cancer Registry, the University of Tampere and the National Institute for Health and Well-being THL based on data on 3.8 million cancer diseases in Finland found that the number of oncology cases did not increase among Finns who were exposed to radiation during the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant ^[18] .

According to information published in 2013 in Turun Sanomat , out of 23 Finnish crematoriums, only two have a developed flue gas filtration system. At the same time, according to the recommendations of the Helsinki Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea, Finland pledged to reduce the release of mercury and carbon monoxide from crematoria before the beginning of 2015 ^[19] .

On April 7, 2018, in the Mäntyharju community (Finland), as a result of the derailment of the rails from the Russian railway tank, about 35 thousand liters of methyl tert-butyl ether were poured into the soil, resulting in great environmental damage ^[20] .

Finland is an active member of many regional environmental organizations and is active bilaterally. Of particular concern to Finland is the ecology of the Baltic Sea , recognized as one of the most polluted seas ^[21] . Blue-green algae are recognized as the main cause of flowering of water in the Baltic in the summertime, which causes massive killing of fish and poisoning of animals and people ^[22] . As part of protecting the Baltic, Finnish experts have identified a number of enterprises in Russia and Poland ^{[23] [24]} that pollute sea waters with phosphates . According to Seppo Knuttil, researcher of the Finnish Environment Center and Ilkki Herlin, Chairman of the Baltic Sea Action Group, the European Union , unfortunately, does not consider the problems of the Baltic Sea as priority ^[25] .

On April 22, 2016, Minister of the Environment Kimmo Tiilikainen signed the Paris Climate Agreement on behalf of Finland ^[26] . As part of the energy and climate policy, by 2030, Finland will have 25 thousand places for charging electric vehicles ^[27] , and the government is ready to subsidize the development of this type of transport ^[28] . In order to reduce the country's hydrocarbon footprint, in 2019 the Finnish Independence Fund Sitra recommends that the Finns change their everyday habits and switch from meat-eating to veganism (or ovolacto-vegetarianism ), as well as minimizing the use of personal motor transport ^[29] .

The Northern Dimension: Environmental Policy

The aim of the Northern Dimension program is to solve the characteristic problems of regional development in Northern Europe, which include solving environmental problems, including the problems of the disposal of nuclear waste and wastewater.

Within the Northern Dimension, there is the concept of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership. It was developed in 2001 in response to requests from the Russian Federation and the international community to coordinate efforts to solve the environmental problems of the North-West of Russia. The main lever of this initiative in solving environmental problems is the provision of grants for environmental projects in the North-West region of Russia.

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