The State of the European Environment – How does Finland compare? Challenges and opportunities for Finland

Thursday 25.6.2015 at 8.30-11.30
Ministry of the Environment, Aleksanterinkatu 7, Helsinki.
Seminar room Pankkisali

The European environment — state and outlook 2015 (SOER 2015) provides a comprehensive assessment of the European environment’s state, trends and prospects. In many parts of Europe, the local environment is arguably in as good a state today as it has been since the start of industrialisation. Despite the environmental improvements of recent decades, the challenges that Europe faces today are considerable. How does Finland compare to other European countries? What are the challenges and opportunities for Finland? We tend to believe that Finland is among the leading countries of environmental management in Europe, but some of the indicators, as for example the share of recycled municipal waste, show otherwise. What should we do in order to improve by next SOER 2020, and to achieve the EU’s 2050 vision of living well within the limits of the planet?

Welcome to the seminar organized by the Ministry of the Environment, the Finnish Environment Institute, the Forum for Environmental Information and the Future Earth Finland where the lead author of the SOER 2015 -report and a member of the EEA Senior Management Team Jock Martin presents the European Environment State and Outlook 2015 -report and the Research Director of the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) Per Mickwitz reflects the findings of the report from the Finnish point of view, after which we have comments from ministries, decision-makers, and civil society organisations followed by a lively discussion.

Program

8:30      Breakfast

9:00      Opening
Jarmo Muurman, Environment Counsellor, Environment Protection Department/Sustainable Materials Economy, Ministry of the Environment

9:15      The European Environment State and Outlook 2015
Jock Martin, Lead Author of the SOER 2015 -report and Member of the Senior Management Team, European Environment Agency (EEA)

10:15    Break

10:30  How Does Finland Compare? Challenges and opportunities for Finland
Per Mickwitz, Research Director, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)

10:45    Comments and Discussion
Satu Hassi, Chairman of the Environment Committee, Parliament of Finland
Laura Höijer, Research Director, Ministry of the Environment
Mikko Peltonen, Research Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Jussi Nikula, Head of Ecological Footprint Programme, WWF Finland

The chair of the event is Tanja Suni, Secretary General, Future Earth Finland

The language of the seminar is English.

The seminar is free of charge and open for everyone, but registration is needed.
Registration to this event has ended.

We have prepared a background material for the seminar presenting the cases in which Finland stands out  in the country comparisons of the SOER 2015 -report.

Check out and read more about the European environment - state and outlook 2015 -report here.