Kotka’s parks continue their winning streak as well-maintained green spaces
15.8.2024 | Five parks in Kotka have won the Green Flag Award 2024-2025.
Sapokka’s Water Park, Katariina Marine Park, River Park, Sibelius Park and Fuksin Park were among the nominees for the label, and they retained the label they have won several years in a row by charming the judges with their cleanliness, quality maintenance and diversity. The green areas are rich in beautiful planting, seating areas and a variety of activities and services for users. The areas are neat and tidy and the art is also nicely showcased.
The Green Flag Award is an award scheme that recognises the quality of maintenance and management of green spaces, managed internationally by the UK environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy and in Finland by the Finnish Green Environment Association (Viherympäristöliitto ry).
At the Lepaa exhibition today, 21 Green Flag Award winning green spaces were announced – some of them already familiar Green Flag Award parks and 3 completely new sites. The number of Green Flag Award-winning green spaces continued to grow from the previous year and is now the largest in Finland’s Green Flag Award history.
Three of the winners are first timers – the green areas that renewed their applications kept the logo
For the first time, Fjällbo Park in Tuusula, AhlmanEdu Campus in Tampere and Myllyranta Park in Lempäälä won the Green Flag Award.
In addition to the parks in Kotka, last year’s winners were Lepaan Campus Park in Hattula, Kellonummi Cemetery in Espoo, Perhospuisto in Riihimäki, Mikkelipuisto in Mikkeli, Jokilaakso Tourist Garden in Lapua and Hupisaaren City Park in Oulu, Centralpark in Parainen, Hatanpää Manor Park and Arboretum in Tampere, Pikku-Vesijärvenpuisto in Lahti, Naisvuori in Mikkeli, Finby Liikuntakeskus in Parainen, Harju Campus Park in Ravijoki and Snellmaninpuisto in Kuopio.
Green Flag Award is an internationally significant recognition
The Green Flag Award has been presented to parks in Finland since 2016, when the park on the Lepaa campus of Häme University of Applied Sciences was awarded the first GFA label. High-quality GFA sites holistically take into account the users, the environment and the operational strategy of the area.
The Finnish Green Flag Award-winning green spaces join an international network of more than 2,400 green spaces in 17 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Turkey, Belgium, Spain, New Zealand and the United States.
The Green Flag Award scheme is the only one of its kind in the world where a trained jury assesses the performance of a green space through a written maintenance and management plan as well as through site visits.
Each year, each applicant receives written professional feedback, which assesses the green space’s performance against a 27-point criteria set. The criteria set establishes a common standard for quality green spaces, which can be used, for example, to justify and develop the funding required for the spaces and to attract more users to green spaces.
Green Flag Award project in Finland: vyl.fi/database/green-flag-award-suomi
Green Flag Award website: greenflagaward.org