A Master's student Saastamoinen joined the NACAO

1. Who are you and what is your background?

I'm studying environmental science in the University of Jyväskylä. This is my third year, and I'm graduating with a Bachelor of Natural Science in spring of 2024. I have also taken courses of chemistry, computer science and statistics. In October I'm going to study in Germany for six months as an exchange student, where I will study geoinformatics. In my freetime I like to read books, study foreign languages and learn about new things.

2. What brought you to the co-operation with NACAO and Regional Council Central Finland, partner of the project?

I ended up with this topic for my Master's thesis, because I have been interested in climate change since I was 12 years old. I didn't first have an idea of relating my thesis to carbon sequestration, but when this topic was offered to me by the regional project coordinator of NACAO, I was excited, since carbon sequestration and carbon sinks are a current topic. I also wanted to study something new: in my Bacherlor's thesis I studied recreational fishing in Finland. Studying carbon sequestration topic feels important to me, since climate change is already happening and there is an urgent need for solutions.

3. What are your next steps in your study?

While writing the theoritical framework, I have learned that majority of people don't have a lot of knowledge about the benefits of naturebased carbon sequestration solutions, and that more information should be shared amongst people. Next I will start planning the details of gathering material for the study, and hopefully I will be able to share my results in November in university's master seminar.