On October 7, the Lahti City Council made a significant decision for the city to pursue nature positivity by 2030. This goal is aligned with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (COP15), which aims to halt biodiversity loss by 2030, followed by nature’s recovery. The aim is to enhance biodiversity rather than continue its decline.
Lahti is preparing a plan in collaboration with stakeholders to achieve nature positivity. This plan will be submitted to the City Council for approval in the spring of 2025.
– The plan may be the first stakeholder roadmap on the subject, both nationally and possibly globally, says Project Manager Hanna Mattila.
Mattila leads the project aiming for nature positivity in Lahti, which the Sustainable Lahti Foundation and Sitra support. As part of this effort, Lahti is conducting a regional nature footprint calculation—the first known instance in Finland. Results indicate that greenhouse gas emissions and land use play a vital role in the nature footprint, highlighting the importance of climate action in reducing the footprint.
Preliminary results show that the most significant contributors to the nature footprint in terms of procurement are food and investments. The calculation is being refined further, with final results expected by 2024.
Contact: Hanna Mattila, tel. +358 44 482 6224, hanna.mattila@lahti.fi