For the first time, the Finnish environmental administration has published on its website a general and informative review of the state of the environment in Finland.

This move is well in line with the provisions of the EU directive on public access to environmental information (2003/4/EC) which grant all citizens the right of access to information on the state of the environment.

The Finnish Environment Institute has compiled the national review, which includes 13 regional reviews of the state of the environment. The information has been obtained from experts within the environmental administration, from other authorities and research institutes, and from various data systems.

The main conclusions of the review are summarised as follows: “Although the state of the environment has improved greatly over the past few decades, there are new threats such as climate change and the increased use of natural resources.”

At present, the review is available in Finnish and Swedish. Its English version is planned to be published in August 2009.


Further information:

• Press release – Finnish Environment Institute and Ministry of the Environment 
• EU Directive on public access to environmental information (2003/4/EC)