Up-to-date knowledge of key ecological features that maintain boreal forest biodiversity is essential part of sustainable forest management and conservation measures. However, there is only a limited amount of spatial data available, as the detection of ecologically significant elements using remote sensing is challenging due to their low frequency, scattered occurrence, small size and/or location in the field layer. We studied tree-level discrimination of the keystone species aspen (Populus tremula L.) from other common tree species and detection of deadwood utilizing airborne high-resolution RGB images, multispectral and hyperspectral data and airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. We also tested the predictive accuracy of remote sensing parameters in predicting the aspen epiphytic lichen communities. Our results demonstrate that high-resolution remote sensing data together with machine learning algorithms provide new possibilities for mapping the occurrence and spatial distribution of key ecological features and producing proxies of biodiversity. It should be noted that field work is also needed for model training and evaluation. Moreover, resources and collaboration of different organizations are needed for biodiversity assessment and monitoring over large geographical areas.

The forest has long been seen as an integral part of Finnish national identity. At the same time, there have emerged new argumentation in the media that rationalize the link between Finnish ”forest culture” with responsible environmental behavior in a national romantic and nationalistic way. This article discusses how the media intertwines the discourse on global warming and the carbon footprint banally around the discourse of nationalism, especially in the context of Finnish forest culture. The research material includes articles published in Helsingin Sanomat newspaper between 31 October 2018 and 31 January 2020. Using the analysis of newspaper material, the article illustrates how old myths about the Finnish forest are transferred to a new context, i.e. the theme of global climate responsibility, ending in an updated narration in where the age-old Finnishness is intertwined with modern Finnishness.

This research analyzes the distribution of thinking skills and knowledge dimensions in the geography learning objectives in grades 7–9 (pupils aged 13 to 16), and in the national final assessment criteria applied at the end of grade 9. The revised Bloom’s taxonomy was used as a framework for the content analysis. The results reveal that the thinking skills in the geography learning objectives mainly include understanding, applying, and analyzing, whereas the knowledge dimensions emphasize conceptual and procedural knowledge. The thinking skills in the assessment criteria are distributed by grades. For instance, grade 5 (in the grading scale from 5 to 10) includes only lower-order thinking skills, whereas only grade 9 includes all the higher-order thinking skills. The comparison between the learning objectives and the assessment criteria indicates that achieving higher grades (9–10) requires higher-order thinking skills more than the learning objectives demand. The results suggest that the alignment between the learning objectives and assessment criteria should be carefully considered in the planning and implementing of the curriculum.

Well-functioning co-teaching contributes to students’ learning, and teachers’ professional skills and well-being, but most of the previous studies on the topic as well as pedagogical guidelines for teachers are made in basic-level education context. To fill this knowledge gap, we analysed the implementation of university-level co-teaching in geography research methodology course context. The results demonstrate the meaning of co-teaching to university teachers’ work, for the social teaching-learning environment, and for the construction of students’ geographical expertise. We show that co-teaching can positively contribute to creation of participatory teaching-learning environment and support the learning of multi-disciplinary contents. Co-teaching is thus a valid pedagogical method for courses where integration of different perspectives is essential.

This article discusses the transformation of climate change science from scientific knowledge to Finnish upper secondary school geography curricula and textbooks from 1985 to 2023. Scientific knowledge transforms into teachable knowledge through the transformation process at the societal, institutional, and classroom levels. In our analysis, we apply the idea of powerful knowledge and use three levels of geographical powerful knowledge, including geographical knowledge, critical and conceptual knowledge, and propensity to imagine alternative futures. The research material consists of five framework curricula from 1985 to 2019 and a total of thirteen upper secondary school geography textbooks that are based on the curricula. Our findings suggest that climate science knowledge has transformed slowly into societal curricula. However, in textbooks, scientific knowledge has transformed more rapidly. According to our results, the transformation may not necessarily occur linearly, first at the societal level and finally in classrooms.

The operational environment of commercial fishing in the North is changing due to climate change and other environmental and socio-economic drivers. In this study, we combine the practitioner knowledge of commercial fishers operating on the subarctic Lake Inari in northern Finland with long-term meteorological and hydrological observations from the region. Our interviews show that fishers have adopted various short-term strategies to cope with difficult weather conditions, among them flexibility in timing and location of fishing, as well as in catch species and gear. The livelihood is diversified both within and outside fishing to enhance the profitability. Responses of fishers to future uncertainties were varied and based on individual rather than community behavior. Four distinct longer-term adaptation strategies utilized by fishers differ in terms of the catch species, investments, and risk levels. Finally, we discuss the sustainability of the identified adaptation strategies, and the governance aspects of the livelihood.