Tampere values parks, forests and waterways at €149 million and quantifies cooling, flood benefits

Municipal ecosystem accounting estimates the annual recreational value of the city’s parks, forests and waterways at about €149 million for 2024; cooling services at roughly €57 million for summer 2022, an effect estimated to have saved about 13 lives; and flood-control benefits at about €45 million for a single 24 mm peak rainfall event in 2018.

The accounting combines layered maps of terrain, land cover and service provision with a representative household survey and modelling. The recreation figure comes from a georeferenced survey that tracked how often residents use green and water areas and how much time and money they spend reaching them. Cooling effects were modelled from shading, evapotranspiration and surface reflectivity. Those figures were then linked to excess-mortality risk to convert avoided deaths into a monetary value using the statistical value of life. Flood-control benefits were assessed by estimating potential building damage costs. That assessment concentrated the greatest monetary gain in low-density residential areas, even though forests retain large volumes of rainwater.

The city piloted the work with the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and through EU- and foundation-funded projects including Countecos and ENVECOPACK. The results show nature is not just a cost but a long-term investment that boosts resilience, public health and urban vitality. Municipal ecosystem accounting gives planners a concrete tool to include natural capital in strategic decisions and aligns with the city’s LUMO biodiversity programme for 2021–2035.