Finland aims at establishing a Finnish Landscape Observatory

Abstract

A wide range of Finnish governmental, academic and civil society institutions have officially created in December 2016 a Consortium for the Landscape Observatory of Finland. The Consortium integrates the Ministry of the Environment, The National Board of Antiquities, The Finnish Environment Centre (SYKE), The Natural Resource Centre of Finland (LUKE), The University of Helsinki, The University of Jyväskylä, The University of Turku, The Aalto University, the Professional Association of Landscape Architects (MARK) and the Finnish Society for Cultural Environment Studies. The Consortium is the first cross-party co-operation in the field of landscape management and research in Finland and was born after a series of national and international seminars organized by Aalto University in Otaniemi. During those seminars, the representatives of the above-mentioned institutions analyzed the current level of implementation of the European Landscape Convention in Finland and agreed in the high potential that a LandscapeObservatory could have in that process. The concept of Landscape Observatory was based on the European Landscape Convention and follows the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. According to those recommendations, Landscape Observatories are strategic tools for describing the condition and evolution of landscapes over time, for exchanging experiences and knowledge concerning landscape protection, management and planning as well as public participation, for measuring the effectiveness of landscape policies and for forecasting the effects that transformative factors can have on the landscape.