WWF contacts
Miriam Geitz
Senior Project Officer - on leave until Sep 2010
WWF Arctic Programme,
Oslo
+47 22 20 09 34
Climate change impacts in Finland - what the IPCC 4th Assessment Report has found:
- Disappearance of some types of wetlands (palsa mires) in Lapland and increased species richness and frequency at altitudinal margin of plant life are attributed to recent temperature and precipitation trends in the Fennoscandian mountains and sub-artic [Table 12.1].
- Arctic and sub-arctic ecosystems (particularly ombrotrophic bog communities; a form of wetland) above permafrost are considered likely to be most vulnerable to climatic changes. Impacts may turn arctic regions from a net carbon sink to a net source [4.4.6].
- Some crops that currently grow mostly in S. Europe (e.g. maize, sunflower and soybeans) will become more suitable further north or at higher altitude areas in the south. Projections for a range of scenarios show a 30 to 50% increase in suitable area for grain maize production in southern Finland by the end of the 21st century [12.4.7.1].