The University of Turku has received a donation of 45,000 euros from OP Turun Seutu for research of biodiversity and its decline.
The donation has been allocated to the University of Turku's Biodiversity Unit and the funds are directed towards interdisciplinary activities addressing the interface between biodiversity and the economy.
This donation significantly advances the interdisciplinary research, education, and societal impact efforts between the Faculty of Science and the Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku to halt biodiversity loss.
Biodiversity forms the foundation of societal well-being. The loss of biodiversity rapidly weakens economic structures, threatens the functionality of food systems and supply security, undermines physical and mental health, and leads to social conflicts, violence, and environmental migration. It is evident that biodiversity loss is not merely a global environmental issue but also a major societal challenge.
OP Turun Seutu aims to contribute to halting biodiversity loss.
– Promoting biodiversity is an important part of the responsibility program at OP Turun Seutu. According to our research, our bank's owner-customers rank actions related to combating climate change and promoting biodiversity among the most significant sustainability measures of their bank. We have also taken note of the University of Turku's interdisciplinary biodiversity research, which has resulted in new tools to address biodiversity loss. We want to support research that sheds light on the crucial interface between biodiversity and the economy, says Irma Hyvärinen, Head of Change and Development at OP Turun Seutu.
The University of Turku has highlighted biodiversity and sustainability as one of its five interdisciplinary themes in its strategy. The Faculty of Science also includes a Biodiversity Unit, whose research projects nowadays work closely with other departments and faculties.
– In recent years, research of biodiversity and its decline has taken a strongly interdisciplinary turn. As natural scientists, we can explain what biodiversity and its loss are. However, we need good and diverse collaboration with the humanities to develop tools to halt biodiversity loss. This is why, alongside basic biodiversity research, we have long been developing interdisciplinary biodiversity research. With this donation, OP Turun Seutu demonstrates leadership in stopping this threatening development for all of us, says Professor Ilari E. Sääksjärvi, Director of the Biodiversity Unit at the University of Turku.
The donation from OP Turun Seutu particularly advances research on the interface between biodiversity and the economy, as well as related education and societal impact efforts.
The deans of the Faculty of Science and the Turku School of Economics, Professors Tapio Salakoski and Markus Granlund, welcome OP Turun Seutu's donation.
– Our faculties' collaboration on research and education to halt biodiversity loss has developed rapidly in recent years. We hope this will also inspire other university faculties to engage in research on biodiversity and its decline. Alongside climate change, biodiversity loss is the most significant long-term threat facing humanity. Understanding the interface between biodiversity and the economy is crucial in stopping it. Together, we are stronger, encourage Salakoski and Granlund.
More information:
Head of Change and Development Irma Hyvärinen, OP Turun Seutu, tel. 050 3038160
Professor Ilari E. Sääksjärvi, University of Turku, tel. 040 5460976
