LES project study relationship between nature and pandemic

LES is a simple acronym meaning Linking Environment and Society. From the summer of 2018 our research group at Novia UAS has investigating the importance of environment and water quality particularly for life in Raseborg. By focusing on the life quality of inhabitants we study the effect of environmental conditions on it, the significance of the environment in relation to socio-economic circumstances, and the role of the objective state of the environment and its perception by locals. For this, we surveyed people in Raseborg in 2018 and 2019. The results will be presented in a scientific manuscript.

“However, during the analysis part we like the whole world faced unexpected and extraordinary circumstances veiled called “the new normal”. Of course, we are talking about the pandemic. Thus, we decided that our study will be incomplete without understanding the potential effects of the pandemic on nature and local life quality.”, says project leader and PhD student Ruslan Gunko.

The LES project team cannot ignore the number of changes that the pandemic has brought to all areas of human life. Understanding the long- and short-term effects of these changes is vitally important for societies in order to adapt to “the new normal” and minimize impacts. The state of the environment and the role of it for the local community are potentially subject to change. Thus, by repeating the modified questionnaire with adding questions about changes that happened during the pandemic related to the environment, we aim to understand if the pandemic changed the importance of the environment (and particularly water quality) for people in the Raseborg municipality and what the scale of these changes is. Moreover, we will investigate if new circumstances have affected people’s relation to the environment in a way that may make their habits more sustainable.

The new survey is currently online and open for people, who live in Raseborg or having a cottage here. Links to the survey and more detailed project description: https://www.novia.fi/les

The project is a collaboration between Novia UAS, the University of Turku, and Åbo Akademi University

For more information please contact

Novia UAS
Project leader Ruslan Gunko
Ruslan.gunko@novia.fi