Vuosaari landfill site voted top for Biodiversity Promotion

The successful natural landscaping of the former Vuosaari dump and landfill site, with its ingenious and unique reuse of waste soil, its introduction of wholly domestic species and, in particular, the environmental education of children and youth at the site, singled out the Crafts Workshop of the Helsinki City Public Works Department's Environmental Production branch as the clear winner of the 2006 Countdown competition. The aim of the competition was to seek out the most effective and inventive biodiversity-promoting achievements in Finland and to showcase these as successful models for realising the goal of halting biodiversity loss by the year 2010, as defined by the pan-European Countdown 2010 initiative of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

The landscaping of the Vuosaari dump and landfill site’s 60 hectares of uniform, open land area is an outstanding example of long-term and sustainable ecological land management. By open-mindedly applying a brand new ecological landscaping approach, Crafts Workshop Manager Jukka Toivonen has succeeded in creating a site that is unique among traditional green urban environments. The result is a mosaic of endangered open environments in which meadows, heather and juniper-dominated heathlands, grasslands, broadleaf woodland and shrubland areas can thrive. Through natural landscaping, plant species and landscapes that are characteristic of the Finnish natural environment have been successfully established on the former dump and landfill site.

The competition panel, the IUCN National Committee of Finland, also took into close consideration the landscaping project’s long-term sustainable development approach. Landscaping of the Vuosaari landfill site using waste soil began in 1994. The soil was transferred to Vuosaari from the neighbouring areas layer by layer without intermediate storage in order to preserve the natural flora, fauna and seed banks contained in the soil. This was specifically carried out to ensure the continued development of these biotopes on the landfill site. According to natural landscaper Kristiina Pekkonen, the site is planted exclusively with domestic plant species cultivated in Finland.

The fruits of over a decade of biodiversity work can already be seen at the top of Vuosaaren Huippu hill, where more than 390 species of vascular plants and 9 endangered, 16 near-threatened and 38 otherwise noteworthy species of insect have been identified. Among these is the critically endangered Large Copper butterfly (Lycaena dispar), a species that is under special protection by the City of Helsinki. One of the key benefits of the project has been its monitoring and research activities which have promoted increased biodiversity at the site. The Vuosaari hill site is also a popular spot for nature tours among groups of city residents, school pupils, nature enthusiasts and landscaping students and professionals both from Finland and abroad.

What is Countdown 2010?

Countdown 2010 is a project launched by the World Conservation Union IUCN and the European Union, the aim of which is to halt or at least significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss. This project has expanded to cover the whole world. Each EU Presidency will on its turn increase awareness of means of halting the loss of biodiversity through the Countdown 2010 project. During its current Presidency, the Finnish State committed on 21 September 2006 to promoting the goals of Countdown 2010.

The World Conservation Union IUCN is an association with more than 1,000 affiliate organisations, the aim of which is to promote the conservation of nature and the ecologically sustainable use of natural resources. In Finland, members of the IUCN include the State of Finland, the Hunters' Central Organization, WWF Finland, the Finnish Society for Nature and Environment and the Finnish Association of Nature Conservation, which was one of the founding members of the World Conservation Union. The State of Finland is represented in the IUCN by the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Finnish Environment Institute and Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services. All these Finnish actors together form the IUCN National Committee of Finland.

Further information: Chairperson of the Finnish IUCN Committee, Senior Adviser Marina von Weissenberg, tel. +358 9 1603 9372. Workshop Manager, Helsinki City Public Works Department Crafts Workshop, Jukka Toivonen, tel. +358 50 550 2744 Natural landscaper, student of horticulture, Kristiina Pekkonen, tel. +358 50 358