Stronger collaborations needed to solve interconnected environmental issues
We are used to protecting and managing land, waterways, and seas as separate ecosystems. In tackling environmental problems, it is important to acknowledge that in reality, ecosystems affect each other in many ways. In Finland, a well-known example is nutrients flowing from land to the Baltic Sea through rivers, contributing to major changes in the marine ecosystems.
- Our most challenging environmental problems are rarely caused by just one thing or one place. They emerge from complex interactions across ecosystems. If we don’t take these connections seriously, we risk pushing nature past critical limits without even realizing that we could do things better, says Docent Johanna Yletyinen from the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.
New boost for environmental management through cooperation
Yletyinen was involved in a multidisciplinary international research group that included researchers studying diverse ecosystems and environmental management phenomena. A science article published by the research group considers what happens when land decisions do not take into account the impact on the sea. The article demonstrates that a major solution to environmental crises is to understand the connections between ecosystems and that decisionmakers talk to, and work with, each other across ecosystem boundaries. The findings were recognized for the way they highlighted the need for understanding the consequences of managing ecosystems in isolation of other connected ecosystems.
- Managing land, waterway or sea uses independently slows down actions to mitigate environmental problems. These slow responses can lead to rapid and surprising losses of valuable ecosystem resources and services, and such tipping points are extremely difficult to return from. This also means that to understand the full picture, researchers need to more often step outside their ecosystem-specific research silos and collaborate with researchers they wouldn’t typically collaborate with emphasizes Yletyinen.
Internationally recognised sustainability research
The research article was nominated for the internationally renowned Frontiers Planet Prize in 2022. Although the article did not win the top prize, it was selected as New Zealand's most influential sustainability article. The team has now adapted the article for children and young people to build environmental understanding early on.
- It is important to explain the complexity of environmental issues and the importance of cooperation to children. Many young people are thinking of environmental issues and they are keen to make a difference in the future, says Yletyinen.
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