Hi everyone,

The Lahti Lakes 2024 organizing team has been busy getting ready for our symposium next week. Here are some updates on what has been going on and what to looking forward to during the 3-day event.

Welcome to the Sibelius Hall

The symposium takes place in Lahti’s famous Sibelius Hall. The building was formerly a lumber mill on the shoreline of Lake Vesijärvi. Since a major renovation in 2000 it now hosts many national and international events including concerts and symposia. Read more here. We are booked into the Puusepän sali (Capenter’s hall) which is being specially arranged for the hybrid format of Lahti Lakes. Pics below courtesy of our partners Eventum. We have approximately 100 attendees of whom over 80 will be present in Lahti, with the rest joining us via the online platform.

Abstract book published

The abstract book for Lahti Lakes 2024 was sent to participants on 16 May. You can find the pdf below. Hard copies of the abstract book will be provided to participants on arrival at the Sibelius Hall.

Lahti Lakes 2024 online platform

All participants of the symposium, whether onsite or online, can follow a live stream of the event via the online platform hosted by our partners Liveto. The platform also allows participants to view the poster presentations as pdf files, and to interact with the online participants via social rooms. Furthermore, online poster presenters will have video rooms enabled, allowing participation during the poster session. An accompanying event app will allow interaction between onsite and online participants through chat functions throughout the symposium. The event app will be accessible to onsite participants via a QR-code on your name badge.

PAID PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT LOGGING IN TO THE ONLINE PLATFORM BY FRIDAY 31 MAY!

Note: the live stream of the event will be recorded by our partners Videomakers. During the event, each day’s recording is visible on the online platform until overprinted by the following day. After the event, the recordings of all 3 days are visible on the platform for 1 month. Following this, we would like to make the individual presentations publicly available as short videos on the University of Helsinki video archive, as done for the 2021 symposium. If you do not wish your presentation to be archived in this way, please contact the organizers.

Panel discussion hosted by WWQA Ecosystems workstream

The Monday afternoon program includes a 40-minute panel discussion hosted by the World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) Ecosystems Workstream. The theme of the discussion will be “Embedding lakes into the global sustainability agenda: where to next?“. The panel will focus on the route towards implementing the goals of the 2023 White Paper published by the workstream, which is accessible here. In particular, we will discuss the creation of a Global Coalition for Lakes and development of the Global Community of Practice in lake restoration. Members of the panel include:

Bryan Spears Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh, UK

Priyanka Jamwal Ashoka Trust for research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, India

Maíra Mucci Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands

Zhengwen Liu Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

Kenneth Irvine IHE Delft, Netherlands

In advance of the discussion, we will publish a draft of a concept note entitled Proposal for a Global Coalition on Sustainable Lake Management, outlining recent developments and a proposed roadmap for future actions in this area.

Social program

Summer in Lahti is beautiful and we intend to make the most of the long days with evening social events!

Sunday: Informal get-together in Lahti (from 19.00).

We will meet on the terrace of Santa Fe bar and restaurant in the central square of Lahti. No official program, just fun to catch up with everyone again. All welcome!

Monday: Reception at Pro Puu gallery (from 19.00)

Immediately after the poster session we will cross the road from Sibelius Hall to the Pro Puu gallery. The gallery is hosting a collection of artwork and photography inspired by Lake Vesijärvi at the time of our symposium. We will have drinks and snacks and hear an official welcome address from a representative of City of Lahti.

Tuesday: Fieldtrip to Lake Vesijärvi and Salpausselkä Geopark (from 14.00)

At around 13.45 we will walk together from Sibelius Hall to the Lahti Harbour, where we board a cruise boat for our fieldtrip. We will have a tour of beautiful Lake Vesijärvi, known as the “living room” of Lahti and the focus of lake restoration efforts for several decades. During the tour, we will have drinks and snacks and hear from Kati Komulainen of the Salpausselkä UNESCO Geopark. Lake Vesijärvi forms part of this newly-recognized park (see map below) which represents a unique set of Quaternary geological sights in the Lahti area, including the famed Salpausselkä ice marginal formations that bound Vesijärvi to the north and south.

Tuesday: Dinner at Kommodori restaurant (from 19.00)

Folllowing the fieldtrip eveyone is welcome for the symposium dinner at Kommodori restaurant. This lovely spot is located on a small island in Lake Vesijärvi and has great views over the lake and surrounding landscape. During dinner, we will be entertained by local musicians Viljami Viippola and Jenny Muhonen on piano and cello.