The Baltic Sea Village challenged Kotka’s schoolchildren to get creative with introduced species, i.e. plants or animals living outside their native habitat as a result of human activity. Introduced species pose a grave threat to biodiversity. The young artists’ drawings depicted species both real and imagined, with family tickets to the Maretarium aquarium raffled among the participants. One of the winners was 5-year-old Joanna, whose interpretation of an introduced species can be seen below.
The Baltic Sea Village is organized annually in the context of the Kotkan Meripäivät festival. Organizers included the Environmental Centre of the City of Kotka, Haili Nature School, Kymen Vesi Oy, Metsähallitus, Natural Resources Institute Finland, The South-Eastern Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, and the Southern Finland Fishermen’s Association.
