Environmental projects
Visions and strategies for the management of natural resources
The National Natural Resources Strategy for Finland has been prepared during autumn and winter 2008-2009 by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund. The aim of the strategy is to create a national vision for the use of natural resources and its management and to set goals supporting it. Gaia has provided support for the strategy process by producing two background reports (in Finnish).
The desk study reviewed a growing body of evidence that demonstrates how sound environmental management has a potentially important role to play in reducing many of the risks posed by natural hazards. Many ecosystems - if they are intact and/or well managed – act as natural, dynamic barriers that protect vulnerable communities and their assets while at the same time preserve local biodiversity and encourage ecological productivity. The report provides and overview of practical experiences that deal with environmental management in relation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Such measures are potentially inexpensive, are environmentally-friendly, have significant social and economic benefits, and have the added benefit of absorbing and storing greenhouse gases. (Ministry of Environment, 2008)
Best practices in eco-innovation, lessons learned from Finnish forerunners
The project identified and analyzed cases of successful Finnish eco-innovations on national or international markets during the 21st century. The analyzed eco-innovations have responded to important environmental problems with new and innovative products, services, organizational or conceptual innovations. (2006-2007)
Ethical information in food production and consumption
This study evaluated different means of informing consumers about the ethical aspects in food production. The core questions were to estimate how efficiently various information methods reach the target groups and whether these methods can provide complex ethical information in a reliable manner. (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2006)
Export Partner Group for Environmental Monitoring
A number of Finnish small and medium size enterprises that operate in the field of environmental technology established an export partner group that was coordinated by Gaia. The product lines concerned provide solutions for demanding particle and gaseous emission measurements and monitoring devices for various types of industries and environment. Since these markets are mainly regulation driven, the environmental legislation and its practical implications were studied. During this project, the market potential was estimated for their products in China and Russia. (2006)
Comparison of opinions by National Ethics Councils
The aim of the project was to facilitate exchange of information, identify topics of common interest and help the process of communication between the National Ethics Councils. The project carried out two main tasks: a database of opinions on ethical issues and a comparative analysis of selected opinions. The database includes basic information of the National Ethic Councils (NECs) and opinions they have produced since the year 2000. It will be accessible to all NEC members and it should serve as a tool when searching for information of other NECs and their opinions. In the comparative analysis opinions from various countries on selected ethical themes were reviewed. (European Commission Directorate-General for Research, 2006)
Sustainable mobility, policy measures and assessment
The SUMMA (SUstainable Mobility, policy Measures and Assessment) project conducted for EU DG TREN is operationalising the concept of sustainable mobility in the transportation sector. It also included performing an integrated policy assessment of the elements of the policy measures in the White Paper on transport policy and other policy options for promoting sustainable transport and mobility. RAND Europe is the project coordinator. Gaia worked in the project as one of the key partners and had the main responsibility over the coordination of a work package where indicators for measuring the sustainable mobility were developed. Also, Gaia worked with developing the models for operationalising the environmental indicators. (2002-2005)
Post-conflict environmental activities
Gaia was the lead consultant to UNEP in assessing the environmental consequences of conflicts in the Balkans, Mid-East and Central Asia (incl. Afghanistan, Iraq, Occupied Palestinian Territories) as well as Africa (including Liberia). The work has been executed in close coordination with relevant UN agencies, the European Union, donor governments, non-governmental organisations, leading international scientific institutions and in strong co-operation with the government and other stakeholders in the countries and regions in question. (1999-2004)
