Lahti is located in Southern Finland, 100 kilometers from Helsinki. Lahti's population has climbed from around 3,000 in the 1900s to over 96,000 today, making it the seventh largest city in Finland.
Lahti has a diversified industrial structure. The city is still the center of Finnish furniture industry, when at the same time the service sector and high technology companies are increasing their importance. Design, quality and environmental technology are the main sectors developed and invested in. Lahti is a young city of entrepreneurship. Rapid industrialisation began in the 1870s in the wake of rail connections, the Vääksy waterway and a lake harbour. The medieval church of Hollola bears witness to the long history of a large parish here, but there were settlements in the area at least 9000 years ago, as people took advantage of waterway routes and Salpausselkä ridge. Nowadays, the location of Lahti is logistically advantageous. 1.5 million people live within 100 km of the city, the Helsinki-St. Petersburg railway passes through the centre and the new motorway link to Helsinki makes Lahti easy to reach. It is internationally famous for its winter games and large ski jumps. Lahti is both an environmentally clean city and one of environmental know-how.
Environmental policy and enviromental protection
The main environmental objectives of the City of Lahti are as follows:
- protecting the quality of groundwater
- rehabilitating the recreational and natural values of lakes
- decreasing environmental load
- promoting the sustainable use of natural resources
- protecting biodiversity
- rehabilitating the scenic and cultural values of the constructed environment
- improving the quality ofn environment in relation to health of the city residents and comfortable surroundings
- developing the environmental cluster
- connecting environmental themes to education
- increasing city residents´opportunities for participatory action
More specified targets to attain the main environmental objectives will be set by the administration and companies of the city every year. The realization of the environmental policy is monitored and the results are reported regularly. The City of Lahti, Health control and Environmental Protection Centre will promote the state of environment in co-operation with the residents, private companies, organizations and other stakeholders.
Climate Change Activities
The City of Lahti joined climate protection campaign of municipalities in 1997. The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities co-ordinates the campaign. During the campaign greenhouse gas emissions of Lahti have been accounted for years 1990, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Last year greenhouse gas emissions in Lahti were 1,026,600 CO2 –ekv.tons.
Harmful emissions decreased troughout the 1990´s, only carbon dioxide emissions increased slightly. The increase in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions is due to an increase in energy production. The biggest problems in maintaining air quality are the ever increasing use of fossil fuels in energy production, as well as the highcontent of nitrogen oxide in built-up areas and dust caused by road traffic. Greenhouse gas emissions of Lahti and production of energy in Lahti were predicted for 2010 and 2015. The industrial plants of Lahti were invited to discuss the realization of air protection goals set in The Päijät- Häme Agenda for Air Protection in 2000 and the establishment of the new goals for coming years.
Gender equality and climate change
In Finland women were the first in Europe to gain the right to vote in 1906 and the first women in the world to be politically elected. In 1972 the delegation for equality was founded. Under the 70´s a lot of laws were passed that would decrease the differences in labour distribution between sexes. In general there are very few women in the decision making bodies in the technical areas. This might create a situation were differences in views is not enough taken in account. In the spring 2004 a project was started with Lahti as one of the partner cities with the purpose to survey the situation especially when it comes to climate policy related decision making. To reach the goal of the project an interview survey has been carried out also in Lahti on the women´s possibilities to influence decision making in the climate policy related municipial bodies for example the traffic planning department, local energy production and other industrial areas. In the technical sector the share of women is 54% of the total employees. The interviewed thought that the equality was not an important factor in their workplaces. Within the municipal sector it is not possible to favour women or men when appointing people to positions. The conclusion of the interview was that this was a question of attitudes: women making decisions and the attraction of the field when choosing the education. The more you educate women to technical professions the more you get women to the decision making positions.
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