Press release 2019-10-15 at 7:50
International Landscape Day will be celebrated on Sunday 20 October 2019. This year, the aim is to use Landscape Day to draw particular attention to the value of water in the landscape.
This theme of International Landscape Day has been prepared for with a photo campaign that started in September, with a focus on the role of water in everyday landscapes. The campaign will culminate in a photo contest on International Landscape Day on 20 October, when the winners will receive book awards. Regardless of whether water is present in your everyday landscape as puddles, the sea, rain, a mire, the shore of a lake or a stream running in a ditch, the contest welcomes all photos.
‘In order to win the Landscape Day photo contest, you don’t necessarily have to capture the most beautiful landscape – you can also win with a new perspective on the contest’s theme. The jury encourages participants to photograph water as part of everyday landscapes as creatively and in as many ways as possible,’ says Senior Environmental Adviser
Tapio Heikkilä, who chairs the contest’s jury.
To participate in the contest, photograph water as part of your everyday landscapes and publish the photos on Instagram with the tag
#arkimaisema on Landscape Day, 20 October 2019. You will have the whole day in which to participate, and you can also participate with photos that you have taken at an earlier date. Also remember to follow the campaign on Instagram at @arkimaisema.
In addition to the contest, the Landscape Day celebrations will include guided scenic walks. The Rural Women’s Advisory Organisation will hold walks both on Landscape Day on Sunday 20 October and during the week leading up to it. These walks will be held in seven regions, free of charge. Some of the walks have advance signups.
Landscape Day is celebrated every year
International Landscape Day is celebrated every year, at the initiative of the Council of Europe, in all countries that have signed the European Landscape Convention. The purpose of Landscape Day is to draw attention to the fact that landscapes are a key part of everyone’s cultural heritage, identity, well-being and the quality and diversity of the environment. The objective of the European Landscape Convention is to design, maintain and protect landscapes. The convention covers all landscapes, from the beautiful to the mundane as well as rural, natural and urban.
Landscape Day is organised by the Ministry of the Environment and the Finnish Environment Institute. The Finnish Local Heritage Federation and the Rural Women’s Advisory Organisation are also involved. International Landscape Day is also part of the European Heritage Days programme.
More information
Researcher Annika Uddström, Finnish Environment Institute, tel. +358 (0)295 251 715, firstname.lastname@ymparisto.fi
Senior Environmental Adviser Tapio Heikkilä, Ministry of the Environment, tel. +358 (0)295 250 166, firstname.lastname@ym.fi