FINESSI

Impacts in Finland

Possible impacts of climate change to the Finnish environment and society include:

Forestry: Growth of forests in the northern Finland accelerates; in southern Finland birch and pine benefit, but the growth of spruce may slow down at the latter part of the 21^st century; wood production may increase, increased risk of wind damages and weakened anchoring of trees to the soil as ground frost decreases
Agriculture: Crop yields may increase; plant cultivation boundaries will shift further north, overwintering of many plants may become more difficult, but overwintering of perennial plants will probably become easier, compaction of clay soils may hamper cultivation if ground frost is reduced, risks of pests and diseases increase, increased risks of erosion and leaching of nutrients, need for irrigation water may increase
Water resources: Winter runoff increases, and spring runoff decreases in southern and middle Finland, flooding may increase due to heavy rainfall events, possibility of dry summers increases, quality of water in lakes and rivers may deteriorate during low discharge, possibility of decreased ground water runoff in southern and middle Finland, risk of ground water contamination during flood events
Transport: Increased risk of erosion, damages to road network due to flooding and heavy rainfall events.
Energy sector: Increase in hydro and wind power production potentials, productivity of biomass production increases, changes in demand for electricity and heating, cooling water becomes warmer, which will affect condensing power plants and their efficiency ratios, reliability of energy transmission decreases because of increased occurrence of extreme weather events.
Tourism and recreation: recreational behaviour changes as circumstances such as snow conditions change; summer tourism season lengthens, northern Finland may become more attractive to winter tourism, if snow cover and amount in the Alps decrease
Human health: Heat related mortality may increase and health problems due to heat may become more common, infectious and animal diseases may increase, pollen loads increase

Sources:

FINADAPT

Finland's National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change




Climate Impacts Climate change Greenhouse gases Scenarios Projected future changes Global Impacts Impacts in Finland Responses to climate change		Impacts in Finland Possible impacts of climate change to the Finnish environment and society include: *Forestry: Growth of forests in the northern Finland accelerates; in southern Finland birch and pine benefit, but the growth of spruce may slow down at the latter part of the 21^st century; wood production may increase, increased risk of wind damages and weakened anchoring of trees to the soil as ground frost decreases Agriculture: Crop yields may increase; plant cultivation boundaries will shift further north, overwintering of many plants may become more difficult, but overwintering of perennial plants will probably become easier, compaction of clay soils may hamper cultivation if ground frost is reduced, risks of pests and diseases increase, increased risks of erosion and leaching of nutrients, need for irrigation water may increase Water* resources: Winter runoff increases, and spring runoff decreases in southern and middle Finland, flooding may increase due to heavy rainfall events, possibility of dry summers increases, quality of water in lakes and rivers may deteriorate during low discharge, possibility of decreased ground water runoff in southern and middle Finland, risk of ground water contamination during flood events *Transport: Increased risk of erosion, damages to road network due to flooding and heavy rainfall events. Energy sector: Increase in hydro and wind power production potentials, productivity of biomass production increases, changes in demand for electricity and heating, cooling water becomes warmer, which will affect condensing power plants and their efficiency ratios, reliability of energy transmission decreases because of increased occurrence of extreme weather events. Tourism and recreation: recreational behaviour changes as circumstances such as snow conditions change; summer tourism season lengthens, northern Finland may become more attractive to winter tourism, if snow cover and amount in the Alps decrease Human health:* Heat related mortality may increase and health problems due to heat may become more common, infectious and animal diseases may increase, pollen loads increase Sources: FINADAPT Finland's National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change