Finnish initiative turns city into pollinator paradise

The Finnish city of Lahti has launched the “Without Pollinators We Can’t Survive” campaign. In order to make the city a better place for pollinators, they have distributed 10,000 packets of seeds to citizens so that they can help with this work.

The municipality of Lahti wants to encourage people to grow meadow plants in their backyards, which would act as an important habitat and source of nutrition for pollinators.

“The packets include seeds from Finnish meadow flowers such as white clover, yarrow and cornflower. The flowers were chosen partly because they bloom at different times, providing pollinators with a constant source of nutrition during the summer months,” explains Hanna Mattila, manager of the “Nature-positive Life” project in the city of Lahti, in a statement. “With 10,000 packets of seeds, we could get up to 50,000 square meters, or seven full soccer pitches, of meadow. This amount would give pollinators a huge boost.”

Pollinators are vital to our ecosystem, playing an important role in food production and the general reproduction of plants. However, their number has decreased dramatically in recent decades in Europe.

“This kind of meadow flower seed packet is a great place to start. Nature is a responsibility shared by all of us and it’s worth giving it a little help,” says Siiri Fagerlund, whose backyard – with around 50 different plants – is already teeming with pollinators. “We’ve always dreamed of a lush, idyllic garden, like in children’s books. When you have nature in your own backyard, it becomes a kind of oasis,” explains Fagerlund.

According to the press release, in addition to distributing the seeds, which began on June 5 (World Environment Day) in the market square, the city of Lahti will also build “apartments” for pollinators, install pollinator-friendly outdoor lighting and organize a “Pollinator Night” to encourage residents to turn off unnecessary outdoor lighting.

“We want to show how many different things cities can do to help pollinators,” says Mattila, who hopes that Lahti can serve as an inspiration to other cities.