Riihimäki has found out what kind of nature effects the activities taking place in the city have

Riihimäki has found out what kind of nature footprint the activities in the city have. The matter was clarified in a project implemented by Sitowise.

Human activity burdens nature and affects biodiversity all over the world. This load is measured by the nature footprint.

Riihimäki, Espoo, Helsinki, Kangasala, Kauniainen, Liminka, Lohja, Pori, Seinäjoki, Tampere, Turku, Vantaa and Ylöjärvi participated in the joint project.

Riihimäki was at an average level

Based on the calculation, Riihimäki's nature footprint is mainly at an average level compared to other municipalities that participated in the project.

The environmental footprint of activities in the Riihimäki area consists of, for example, consumption of electricity, heat and fuels, traffic, construction and food consumption.

Riihimäki was at a better-than-average level in terms of factors influencing the stress of soil and water areas, which are often affected by crop and grazing land and water use.

The impact of toxic substances on the freshwater habitat and the eutrophication of marine ecosystems were the weakest areas of Riihimäki. These are affected by energy production with fossil fuels and waste processing, as well as food, especially meat and milk production.

"The people of Riihimäki can influence the natural footprint in their everyday lives by adding vegetables to their diet, preferring walking, cycling and public transport, and reducing their consumption. After all, these are familiar things that also affect the carbon footprint," reminds environmental expert Jenni Takala.

This is how the nature footprint is calculated

In order to calculate the environmental footprint, the activities that have an impact on biodiversity must be identified. According to the definition of the international panel IPBES, the environmental footprint is caused by five drivers: 1) land and sea use and changes in use, 2) use of natural resources, 3) climate change, 4) pollution and 5) alien species.

These activities cause several harms to the ecosystem, i.e. biota and habitat, for example by intensifying climate change, eutrophication of waterways, increasing the effect of toxic substances on the environment or acidifying the soil.

The environmental footprint provides information on the calculated average, i.e. how much a certain type of activity or consumption causes an impact on nature in a certain location on average.

With the help of global databases, it is possible to do such a calculation. However, the calculation also includes uncertainties, which is why the results currently only give a direction as to which aspects we should especially pay attention to in order to protect nature from the effects of our activities.

You can read the report on Riihimäki's nature footprint here.

You can find more information about the Nature Footprint project and its results From Sitowise's website.