Professor Ilari Sääksjärvi, director of the Biodiversity Unit at the University of Turku, has studied the parasitic mites of the Amazon rainforest in Peru. He was just awarded with the recognition of the Alfred Kordelin Foundation.
– We know the tools with which we can stop the world’s loss of nature and even turn the state of nature in a positive direction. However, it’s behind the hard work and now it’s busy.
According to Ilari Sääksjärvi, director of the Biodiversity Unit at the University of Turku, the same development can also be seen in Finland.
Finnish nature has become endangered during the last thirty years. The trend has always been in a worse direction.
A lost fifth of Amazonian biodiversity
Ilari Sääksjärvi has done a lot of research in the Amazon rainforest in Peru.
He belongs to a rare group of parasitic dot researchers in the world. According to his own accounts, Sääksjärvi has spent a total of almost two years on research trips in Amazonia.
Over the years, hundreds of insects unknown to science have taken hold of Sääksjärvi’s wounds. He has given the name to about 150.
The diversity of nature attracts the Amazon.
– Up to a quarter of the world’s biodiversity lives in Amazonia, and on the other hand, nature loss is progressing there very quickly. In the last dozen years, a fifth of the Amazon has been lost. The situation is critical and there are few researchers. I personally see my own work as a biodiversity researcher so that the nature of Finland and the Amazon are equally valuable and I want to get to know both.
Alfred Kordelin’s award was a surprise
Ilari Sääksjärvi was awarded a 50,000-euro award from the Alfred Kordelin Foundation over the weekend.
The award committee describes Sääksjärvi as having illustrated how in many ways the protection of nature is connected to the balance of society and the environment, and praises the professor’s work as a science educator and disseminator of knowledge.
The researcher himself says that he was even moved by the award.
– Prizes are few and far between in the world of science. In the case of Alfred Kordelin, one can talk about a grand prize. I thought there was a chance for that as an emeritus, but when it came at this stage, it’s a huge honor. The award silenced even the talkative man, says Sääksjärvi.
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