See Finland’s two newest national parks

Life & society Environment

Finland’s 36th and 37th national parks were established in early 2011, just in time for the arrival of the warm season: a new park encompassing unspoilt forest habitats just a stone’s throw from Helsinki; and an extensive marine park around the archipelagos of the Bothnian Sea along the west coast.

The ecologically diverse forests of Sipoonkorpi are already popular with nature-lovers in the Helsinki area. New trails, picnic sites and other facilities for visitors will soon be created following the area’s designation as a new national park. This will provide a valuable new recreational amenity in the east to rival the popular Nuuksio National Park, which lies just west of the capital.

The Sipoonkorpi National Park is easy to reach from Helsinki. Photo: Metsähallitus

But the main reason for establishing the park is to protect Sipoonkorpi’s old-growth forests, rocky crags and woodland springs and streams, together with their rare flora and fauna, in the face of increasing pressure for building development as the Helsinki conurbation spreads eastward.

Its total extent of just 18.5 square kilometres makes Sipoonkorpi one of Finland’s smallest national parks, but Minister of the Environment Paula Lehtomäki, in office at the time of the park’s inauguration, said she hoped more land would soon be acquired for the park. “Landowners in surrounding areas will be encouraged to join conservation schemes, and we are also urging local authority planners to establish ecological corridors linked to the park to benefit nature, as well as recreational areas to benefit the many people who live nearby,” she said.

Finland’s largest marine national park

A view of the Bothnian Sea National Park. Photo: Metsähallitus

The new Bothnian Sea National Park off Finland’s west coast covers a much larger area of 900 square kilometres, but most of the park consists of open marine waters. Nature conservationists are disappointed that the park includes few islands and shores, and that the hunting of seals and seabirds has not been more restricted within its boundaries.

Lehtomäki admits conservation compromises had to be accepted to make the designation of the park acceptable to local communities, and particularly to help the local fishing industry. But she feels the park still fulfils its main goal of protecting ecosystems beneath the waves. “The establishment of this large marine national park in the west fills the last major gap in our protected areas network,” she says.

On boat trips out to the Bothnian Sea’s lonely lighthouse islands from Uusikaupunki or Rauma, visitors can spot the new park’s wildlife, including inquisitive seals, sea ducks, auks and white-tailed eagles.

National parks for all seasons

Finland’s 37 national parks cover a total area of almost 1,000 square kilometres. The largest parks in the north contain the wide-open fells of Finnish Lapland. Coastal parks in the south and west encompass Finland’s labyrinthine Baltic archipelagos. Many other parks protect unspoilt forest and lakeland scenery.

National parks are primarily designated to protect wildlife and natural landscapes, but during 2010 Finland’s parks welcomed almost two million visitors. Many free facilities are provided in the parks, including visitor centres, inviting nature trails, shelters and campfire sites stocked with firewood. For tips on visiting Finland’s 37 national parks and other beautiful natural areas at any time of year see

By Fran Weaver, June 2011

What’s up with the “True Finns” party?

Life & society Politics

When the results from parliamentary elections started to roll in on April 17, Europe-at-large was taken aback: What on earth is happening in Finland, known for its mostly underwhelming political news?, asks Kyösti Karvonen, managing editor of the newspaper Kaleva.

The point in question is a party with a funny-sounding name, the “True Finns,” with its firebrand chairman Timo Soini, an avid fan of British soccer club Millwall FC and a Roman Catholic in a mainly Lutheran country.

In international election coverage, the party has been called far-right, xenophobic, populist, anti-EU, anti-Islam and racist.

I’ve covered the “True Finns” party and its predecessor, the Finnish Rural Party, since the early 1980s. Over all those years, it has been mission impossible to pin it down on the political map. However, it is easier to overrate than to downplay the party’s essence.

Suspicion and sewage

The safest bet, at least at first, is to call the “True Finns” populist. They can also be categorised as EU-critical and as a party that stands for tighter immigration rules. To be sure, individual extremist voices are often heard from the party’s rank-and-file.

There are deeper currents in the Finnish psyche where the party has recently managed to strike a chord. Being a Finn ultimately entails suspicion of, or even detest for, the powers-that-be. The social protest that materialised in the ballot boxes was, to name a few ingredients, a cocktail of EU bailout funds, election financing scandal and an extremely unpopular law that forces the Finns to build expensive sewage systems for their beloved summer cottages.

Soini himself has called the “True Finns” a “working-class party without socialism.” There is definitely something to that. When the leading Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat asked the candidates a set of questions, the answers of the “True Finns” and the Social Democrats stood closest to each other, out of all the parties.

Afraid of being trampled

The “True Finns” did not come out of the blue. The party has existed for more than 50 years – though previously under two other names.

The “True Finns” have rocked the Finnish political scene before, though they were called the Finnish Rural Party back then. That happened in the early 1970s and in 1983. On both occasions, the party either disintegrated soon after due to internal squabbles or took a nosedive after a spectacular showing in the elections.

The party platform has never been rich in content, but most often it has been chaired by a leader with political talent, charisma and good oratory with witty sound bites.

Soini, 48, fulfills that description to the letter. He holds a masters degree in social sciences and rather fittingly did his thesis on populism.

Soini, in an oracular fashion, wrote in his autobiography in 2008 that “a populist leader often comes to the scene when social modernisation and structural change constitute a threat. The populist electorate is made of people afraid of being trampled upon.”

From peasants to Parliament

Soini learnt the trade working in the party under the rocky leadership of the late Veikko Vennamo, the founder of the two preceding incarnations (the Small Peasants’ Party of Finland in 1959 and the Finnish Rural Party in 1966). Vennamo’s trademark was fiery oratory; once he was even carried off of the parliamentary podium when he exceeded a time limit.

Vennamo founded the party in the late 1950s after he resigned from the what is now the Centre Party following a bitter fight with Urho Kekkonen, who went on to serve as president of Finland from 1956 to 1982.

After the Second World War, Vennamo formed a key figure when evacuees from Karelia, the eastern Finnish region annexed by the Soviet Union, were resettled in Finland. It is widely considered that Finland avoided post-war social upheaval thanks in part to the resettlement.

The ups and downs started in 1970, when the party snatched 18 seats in the 200-member Parliament. The party soon split and disappeared into political oblivion before making a comeback in the 1983 elections. The party entered a coalition government for the first time in its history, then gradually fell back again into the political wilderness.

That period came to an end a few years ago, when the “True Finns” started to make headway. The first signs were seen in the local elections in 2008 and in European Parliament elections in 2009. Soini was elected to European Parliament by a landslide.

By Kyösti Karvonen, May 2011

Where Indian craft meets Nordic design

Life & society Design

The handmade design products of Tikau have become regular features on the pages of Finnish magazines, but they encorporate much more than just cool design. Inspired by the aesthetics and craftsmanship in rural areas of India, Tikau combines Scandinavian design with a wide approach to fair trade and sustainability, providing a unique alternative to mass-produced products.

Most Tikau products stay the same from season to season and form timeless design elements. Photo: Tikau Design

As interest in craftsmanship and the values behind our daily products increases, Tikau has quickly found its way into the homes and hearts of conscientious Finnish consumers. The beautifully crafted textiles, rugs and pillows gain their unique look and feel from the century-old skills and knowledge of the local artisans in rural India.

The woman behind Tikau is designer Taina Snellman, whose trips to India and interest in ethical and environmental production brought her the idea of combining Scandinavian aesthetics while cherishing local artisan work and traditions. The philosophy at the heart of Tikau is also to create design that is as socially, aesthetically and environmentally sustainable as possible. Tikau itself is a Hindi word meaning long lasting, durable and sustainable.

Timeless design and philosophy

The values of Tikau are implemented at every stage of production. In contrast to mass production, which begins with the product and then seeks a producer, Tikau is based on the skills and traditions of the local artisans and the local materials. Snellman and the maker start to plan how a product would fit Scandinavian aesthetics. Some of the products have been designed by Snellman herself, some by other designers and some are creations of the craftspeople themselves. Traditional patterns and materials are often used.

Tikau products are made of natural materials and colours. Photo: Tikau Design

In production, Tikau attempts to revive the disappearing artisan traditions to the use of environmentally friendly methods for processing textiles. It uses natural materials such as uncolored wool, organic cotton, water reed and banana fiber for the core of most Tikau products, and the use of chemicals is avoided by utilising traditional vegetable dyes whenever possible.

Most Tikau products stay the same from season to season. Rugs, blankets, baskets and pillows in their natural colours and quality fabrics form timeless design elements.

By Amanda Soila, June 2011

A Finnish twist on IB schooling

Life & society Education

How does Finland’s renowned education system mix with the worldwide International Baccalaureate programme when the same school utilises both? We visit Ressu Comprehensive in Helsinki to find out.

Since 2007, the education at Ressu Comprehensive School has been based on a combination of Finland’s national core curriculum and the PYP curriculum (Primary Years Programme) and MYP curriculum (Middle Years Programme) of the International Baccalaureate Organization, IBO. With 430 pupils, 44 full time teachers, 38 different nationalities and two full-time special-needs teachers, Ressu takes pride in 120 years of heritage and in its mission and strategy as an IB school in Helsinki.

“It is good that our curriculum, written by our own teachers, has both programmes, because the Finnish national curriculum is an excellent one anyway,” explains principal Erja Hovén. “Now we have one curriculum that fulfils both programmes. It couldn’t be better!”

Finland has a total of 17 IB schools, including comprehensive and upper secondary, of which two are private and the rest are state-funded schools. Ressu and five others are situated in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

The learning process

Ressu students don headphones for comprehension exercises in the language lab. Photo: Markku Ulander/Lehtikuva

Stimulating problem-solving skills and interaction are elements for which the Finnish school system has often received praise. “Problem-solving is an element that was already incorporated in the Finnish national curriculum. We just emphasise it more in our IB programme.”

“Certain points have had to be stressed [since the IB programme was introduced at Ressu]. For instance, there are more hands-on projects and enquiries. Our students now work with larger projects or personal projects that can take a whole winter.” Hovén pinpoints their “holistic approach” to education, especially in the PYP.

Emphasising strong self-esteem and an active and responsible role in society is what Ressu aims for, which is also in accordance with the original aim of the IB programme to “challenge schools to encourage the students in become inquiring young people, active and knowledgeable lifelong learners through intercultural understanding.”

In addition, Ressu focuses on learning skills and teamwork, which are “just as important as the result,” says Hovén. “We want our students to be critical, to be able to analyse and evaluate the information they receive. Sometimes knowing how to process information is more important than the information itself.”

About language

As in many IB schools, instruction is offered in two languages, the country’s official language and English. Ressu has both Finnish and English language streams. Often the students attending the English stream are temporarily living in Finland, or they are Finnish but have lived abroad.

The stellar results that Finland’s educational system has received in international evaluations in recent years have given the Finns cause to celebrate more than once. In the newest test results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), released in December 2010, Finland dropped from first place in literacy to second place among OECD participants and third place among all participants, placing it just behind South Korea. And even if Finns are now feeling a certain sense of dissatisfaction about missing their beloved first place, it’s still an excellent result considering that the 2009 survey covered the OECD’s 33 member states and 32 non-members. Finland placed second out of all participants in the science category and sixth in mathematics.

“Of course we like to get high scores,” says Hovén. “It also motivates us. The results are important but they are never do-or-die!”

By Carina Chela, May 2011

Row, row, row that church boat

Life & society Sports

For a breath of fresh air and a taste of traditional Finland, hop into a wooden rowboat 12 metres long.

Summer in Finland arrives rapidly, with spring days lengthening by five and a half minutes daily. With it come plenty of special events which make the most of the ample hours of daylight and, if one is a little lucky, sunlight too. Water plays a significant part in many of these programmes, typically as a backdrop for the countless lakeside summer cottages.

For one group, water is the medium and the message – or if not the message, it can certainly be seen as a type of massage, for the body and the mind. From the middle of May the church boat crews wait for the lake ice to melt so they can take to the water in these elegant wooden rowboats, and start getting in shape for long summer days and longer rows ahead.

In times gone by, these elegant, long boats took up to 50 parishioners from distant farms and hamlets located near the many lakesides to the important Sunday services, with all able-bodied persons taking their turn at the oars.

The journeys were sometimes more than a day’s travel, and when the weather turned bad the consequences could be catastrophic. Swimming was not a common survival skill. Nowadays church boats’ use is purely recreational, offering a combination of application and exercise in a highly social setting and attracting a broad cross-section of people, sat in pairs down the 12-metre craft, 14 at a time.

Get a kick out of rowing

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Visit the Sulkava Rowing Race to see boats, boats and more boats – and a good deal of beautiful Finnish summer scenery as well.

Some crews are obviously highly athletic and have been training through the winter, indoors on the rowing machines or outdoors on the ski tracks. Others take to the water in spring primarily to get outside and enjoy some gentle exercise where the air is the freshest, and the elements the freest.

Mother of two Eve-Liisa Virehausz, who rows on Järvenpää Lake with the club there, says, “It gets me out and away from all the daily grind. I’m not so worried about the weather – it’s such a different environment out on the water that I’m refreshed whatever it’s like.”

Exercise is part of the attraction, and coordinating it with the rest of the crew is both a challenge and a reward. Everyone gets a kick out of harmonising their efforts to move the boats efficiently and smoothly along – as well as enjoying the views of the countryside.

Opportunities to join one of these crews obviously depend on location, with most clubs and boathouses located on lake- or shoresides in southern and eastern Finland. Many groups are sponsored by companies, part of fitness promotion projects typical of modern enterprises; others are vestiges of the original congregational rowers, with the boats owned and maintained purely by local enthusiasts. Crews also gather at regattas held throughout the country, testing their skills against each other and enjoying the community of like-minded spirits partaking in this essentially traditional Finnish survival skill.

Though the season begins at the end of May, most events are held in July and August. The largest single regatta is the Sulkava Rowing Race in early July, with around 7,000 participants.

By Anthony Shaw, June 2011

Finnish restaurants show their class

Life & society Slideshows

A luxurious new coffee-table book weighing only 1,650 grams (3.6 pounds) reveals Finland’s best dining experiences. Classy Finnish Restaurants takes you from Helsinki’s Michelin-starred establishments to converted country manor houses. See a selection in our slideshow.

Classy Finnish Restaurants (Young Rascal Inc) leads off with an intro by Finland’s culinary top dog, chef Hans Välimäki of Helsinki’s two-Michelin-star Chez Dominique. He relates a brief, engaging history of Finnish cuisine, from the Russian era in the 1800s to the present.

Then the book launches into a photogenic parade of 52 of the country’s most esteemed eating establishments, including the five Helsinki restaurants that possess Michelin stars (Chez Dominique (2), Demo, Luomo, Olo and Postres).

The reader travels the length and breadth of the country, each place getting its own article with plenty of colourful eye candy (décor, diners, dishes and more). Taste a sample in the slideshow below.

A visual feast from Finland

The onion-shaped domes of Helsinki's Orthodox Cathedral gleam above the dining room at Sipuli (Onion). Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Sipuli

In the northern city of Oulu, the staff at Hugo are setting up before the first customers of the day arrive. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Hugo

Wanha Laamanni (The Old Lawyer) serves up rustic Finnish fare in the charming town of Porvoo, a popular tourist destination one hour east of Helsinki. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Wanha Laamanni

In the heart of Helsinki, Maxill is a cosy location for friends to share conversation over lunch, dinner or drinks. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Maxill

Salutorget, on the north side of Helsinki's Market Square, occupies a former bank, an architectural treasure containing dark mahogany furnishings and ornate stained-glass windows. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Salutorget

Top of the world: The venerable restaurant Savoy, founded in 1937, commands a view over the greenery of Esplanade Park and the rest of downtown Helsinki, including the Lutheran Cathedral. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Savoy

Scenic setting: Another majestic location sets the mood at Tertin Kartano (Tertti's Manor) near the eastern Finnish town of Mikkeli. Photo: Tertti's Manor

In the southern coastal resort town of Hanko, På Kroken (On the Hook) offers guests its unique, patented smoked salmon and other delicacies (open only during the summer months). Photo: Young Rascal Inc/På Kroken

City pulse: Rafla, right in the middle of downtown Helsinki, makes customers feel at home with its unpretentious charm. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Rafla

Wine glasses on the table and on the wall: In the west-coast town of Pori (the same one that hosts a huge annual jazz fest), Bucco serves Italian-influenced cuisine with Finnish-Nordic undertones. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Bucco

Last but certainly not least: At Näsinneula, in the central-western city of Tampere, dessert and all the other courses are served at a height of 124 metres, in a dining room atop a tower offering great views as well as gourmet food. Photo: Young Rascal Inc/Näsinneula

By Peter Marten, April 2011

Women’s Bank offers a way forward

Life & society Society

Women’s Bank, a Finnish fund, supports sustainable entrepreneurship and livelihood among women in developing countries.

In 2007 a group of women from Finland visited a developmental project in Liberia, meeting a large number of hardworking women with a host of ideas. Given the chance to realise these plans, they could have improved the financial situations of their families, but they lacked support and access to financial resources.

Photo: Elisabet Back/Kirkon Ulkomaanapu

Women’s Bank was founded upon a vision of helping such women put their ideas into action – learning a vocation or even setting up a business. This meant providing direct, tangible help at grass-roots level: small loans, education in entrepreneurship and vocational training.

Attitudes also had to be changed, since in many countries women are not thought of as independent entrepreneurs and leaders. According to the Women’s Bank ideology, gaining approval for women’s entrepreneurship is the most efficient way of decreasing poverty in the world, as women and girls often form a forgotten resource.

Today Women’s Bank is active in 12 countries on three continents, receives donations from corporations and private citizens, and is managed in cooperation with volunteers and Finn Church Aid.

Spotlight: village banks in Asia

Photo: Elisabet Back/Kirkon Ulkomaanapu

In Asia, Women’s Bank is active in Cambodia and Nepal, operating primarily by financing village banks. Village banks operate in rural communities where financing services with reasonable interest rates are frequently out of reach for poor families. Village bank members are local women who, after receiving basic training in savings and loan operations, manage the bank themselves. The interest rate for loans is low and the local area benefits. Women have proved to be trustworthy clients: almost 100 percent of the loans are paid back on time.

Village bank projects are accompanied by educational programs: People are offered both counseling in financial skills and practical training such as farming cash crops or tailoring. “Merely handing out money is not a solution to poverty’, stresses Hanna Kallio, the head of communications group, "we believe that giving advice, education and a small start-up loan in the beginning will be much more effective in the long run."

Towards the third million

In 2010 the Women’s Bank gained momentum. In 2009 fund had managed to collect one million euros in Finland, and the following summer another million was raised. This reflects the growing interest among people in doing something to help women in developing countries. This year’s target is to reach the third million.

Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva

In Finland, many men have joined the work and been welcomed. In the recipient countries, however, the organisation is still a bank for women, as the name states. In developing countries women are often the poorest of the poor. “Working together as a community and seeing that your work can have a concrete positive impact on the lives of your far-away sisters is an empowering experience’, states Mari Männistö, the chair of the capital area unit. The Women’s Bank celebrates its anniversary on March 8, International Women’s Day. Everybody who believes in the power of women to change the world is welcome to join.

Links

Women’s Bank official homepage
Gender Equality in Finnish Development Cooperation Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

By Riia Järvenpää, February 2011

Finnish cricket plays a straight bat

Life & society Sports

Cricket, for all its strange rules, equipment and uniforms, forms a growing sport in Finland. Finnish fans of bat and ball rejoice when the snow melts and the season starts.

On a warm summer Saturday afternoon in Kaisaniemi Park, close to Helsinki’s main railway station, a strange and alien activity is in progress. A small baffled crowd of Finns is gathering on the edge of a dry sand pitch occupied by crouching men in white shirts and trousers. Some of these men are wearing huge pads on their legs and carrying long pieces of wood. Others are throwing balls at them in a vicious over-arm motion.

The Finnish cricket season is in progress and members of the Helsinki Cricket Club (HCC) are doing what they’ve been waiting all the long, snowy winter to do. HCC, with about 30 active members, is one of 21 clubs across the country listed by the Finnish Cricket Association. “Many of our members at HCC are from or have links with South Asia but there’s an annual turnover with members coming from the UK and Australia each year,” says Zahoor Khan, the Indian secretary of HCC, who has lived in Finland for more than seven years.

Finns are undeterred

4311-hcc_2010courtesyofhelsinkicricketclubb-jpg

Growing in popularity: Helsinki Cricket Club is one of 21 teams across Finland.Photo courtesy of HCC

The rules, tactics and jargon of cricket are notoriously difficult to explain – the HCC describes the game economically as “a sport played with bat and ball, in an open ground, between two teams of 11 players” – but Zahoor says this does not deter Finns from getting into the game.

“The Association runs programmes for Finns, or for anyone else who wants to find out more,” he says. “In fact the actual membership of the HCC is 60 percent Finnish because there are so many second-generation Finns from cricket-playing countries. There’s been a lot of effort put into training young people – my own kids are starting to get more interested now too.”

Competitive cricket in Finland is played in three main leagues: the SM50 League (with 50 overs for each team in a game) of which HCC were 2010 champions; the second level SM40 (40 overs); and the T20 “express” version, which has been gaining popularity internationally. The Finnish cricket season runs from May until early September.

Cricket freaks who would otherwise be deprived of their bat-and-ball fix during the winter play in an indoor league – HCC are reigning champions of that as well. The indoor season runs from early December until early April.

Northernmost cricket tournament

The test-match format, which can run to five days when top international sides are competing, is not played in Finland. Test-match cricket is considered the ultimate version by aficionados, but Zahoor does not envision the Finnish national side reaching such heights in the foreseeable future.

Even so, he points to Finland’s third-place finish in the 2008 European indoor cricket championships as a sign of a parallel rise in cricketing popularity and ability. The games were held in Kuortane in western Finland – the most northerly location ever for an official cricket tournament. Meanwhile, a new official ground is being prepared for national and club cricket in Kerava, near Helsinki. “I’m realistic, but a lot of kids are being trained now and I really think cricket is going to get more popular here,” says Zahoor. “After all, there are similarities between the game and the Finnish official summer sport pesäpallo (a version of baseball). Finns who come and play never give up the game.”

Nothing better than cricket

A far cry from ice hockey: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, right, at bat in the Cricket World Cup final against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, India in April 2011.Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/Lehtikuva

Zahoor, like every other cricket fan in Finland, is frustrated at the absence of live cricket coverage on TV channels in Finland – a frustration that reached a peak in the early months of 2011 when the tenth ICC World Cup was played in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Zahoor watched the progress of his native India to victory in the final on the internet. To the embarrassment of your English correspondent, he also mentions the biggest upset of the tournament, England’s defeat at the hands of Ireland, as an example for Finland to follow.

“Look at the Irish players,” he says. “They’re not professional; they all have other jobs. I don’t see why Finland can’t be at that level in ten years’ time.” Zahoor is philosophical about the lack of televised cricket in Finland. “It’s very frustrating but that’s how it is. I’d love to see more live action. But for us, looking forward to summer and playing is the main thing. There’s nothing better than that.”

By Tim Bird, May 2011

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