The Finnish Nature League, Luonto-Liitto

 

Nature League in a nutshell

• Nation-wide nature and environment protection organization for children, the youth, and young adults
• Works in forest, wild animal, water system, climate and energy issues and pioneers environmental education in Finland
• Organizes nature club and camp activities and courses and publishes guidebooks and other material related to nature and the environment
  
• Circa 7 000 members
• Eight district and two local organizations
• Economically and administratively independent member organization of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation
• Politically independent
• Founded in 1943

 

Nature League in brief

Nature League – Luonto-Liitto in Finnish – is a nation-wide non-governmental nature and environmental protection organization for children and the youth. Most of our members are between 5 and 29 years of age. Our mission is a society where natural biodiversity and the intrinsic value of nature is acknowledged and respected. In order to achieve our goals we offer knowledge, experiences and activities, and create possibilities for young people to influence and participate to environmental decision-making processes.

Nature League is one of the few nation-wide environmental NGOs in Finland, and the only one mainly emphasizing youth environmental work. We are both politically and organizationally independent, and the youth organization of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitto), the biggest national ENGO in Finland. Nature League has circa 7 000 members, eight regional, and two local organizations in Finland.

Nature League, founded in 1943, is well respected in Finland. Currently, the emphasis of our work is on the following activities:

Environmental education for children and the youth

• Nature League runs afternoon nature clubs for children
• NL runs environmental groups for the youth
  
• NL organizes circa 30 nature camps annually, targeted for children and youth between 7 and 15 years of age. Most of these camps take place during the summer time.

Courses in environmental education for the youth, students and adults

• Courses on running a nature club
  
• Courses for those who want to work as nature camp leaders on NL’s camps
• Courses on nature and exploring the wilderness
  
• Courses on environmental education for interested young adults
• Courses on specific biological and environmental themes
  
• Tailor-made commercial courses focusing on environmental education for professionals in the fields of child care and education

Publishing

• NL publishes guidebooks and various other materials on nature themes such as, e.g., bird watching, and on environmental themes, such as energy issues
• NL publishes material encouraging youth environmental participation and citizenship
• NL publishes two magazines: Children’s own nature magazine Sieppo, and for older members Nuorten Luonto, each with a circulation of about 2500 copies per number
  

Environmental policy work

NL acts as a general ENGO, monitoring the state of the environment within the limits of its resources. Most of the work is done by voluntary youth and student activists. As one of the national ENGOs, NL participates regularly in various administrational processes as a committee member or as an expert advisor. The organization also monitors activities of the relevant authorities in its key areas of expertise. These include:

• Old-growth forest protection and sustainable use of Finnish forest resources
• Raising awareness of the living conditions of large wild carnivores local to Finland, including bear, wolf, wolverine, and lynx
• Campaigning for the Baltic Sea ecosystem and sustainable fishing
• Environmentally sustainable transportation
• Energy and climate issues
• Development cooperation, fair trade, and multiculturalism
• Environmentally sustainable consumerism and anti-consumerism

The Finnish Nature League/ Luonto-Liitto
Annankatu 26 A,
5 krs.
00100 Helsinki
Finland

tel. +358 9 68 444 20

fax +358 9 68 444 222

Staff

Mr. Leo Stranius / Secretary General tel. +358 40 754 7371

E-mail: firstname.lastname(at)luontoliitto.fi

A complete list of staff can be found at the contact information page.