Gypsum Initiative
The project created an international gypsum themed collaborative network and enabled gypsum experiments in the Baltic Sea region. The project was led by the John Nurminen Foundation. The project was funded by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment from the funds allocated by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for Cooperation in the Baltic Sea, Barents and Arctic Regions.
Anna Saarentaus
Senior Specialist, forestry. New projects anna.saarentaus@jnfoundation.fi +358 40 719 0208Petri Ekholm
Senior Researcher, The Finnish Environment Institute
petri.ekholm@ymparisto.fi
tel. 0295 251102
Markku Ollikainen
Professor, University of Helsinki
markku.ollikainen@helsinki.fi
tel. 02941 58065
Finland has had good experiences of using gypsum treatment of fields as a water improvement measure. Treating fields with gypsum to protect the water system has yielded good results in the River Savijoki region in Southwest Finland, and River Vantaa near the Helsinki metropolitan area. In both catchment areas, the phosphorus load of fields treated with gypsum was immediately reduced by up to 50% and with very moderate investments.
This 2-year project established a network of farmers, researchers and authorities in the Baltic countries, Poland, Sweden and Denmark to enable the gypsum treatment of fields. Additionally, the project determined how well gypsum is suited for use locally, and prepared for a larger scale implementation of gypsum treatment and to have it included in national agricultural subsidy programmes in the countries around the Baltic Sea.
“Finland can pave the way for the use of gypsum in agriculture in a larger scale to protect waters. This offers significant opportunities for the protection of the Baltic Sea. This would further contribute to gypsum being formally acknowledged as a means to improve the condition of the Baltic Sea in HELCOM’s updated plan of action and EU’s agricultural subsidies,” said Krista Mikkonen, the Finnish Minister of the Environment and Climate Change.
The project was carried out by the John Nurminen Foundation, the Finnish Environment Institute, and the University of Helsinki.
In cooperation with
