Fighting Giant Hogweed in Espoo

Today, members of Initiative FoReDi carried out a volunteer action in Espoo to remove giant hogweed, a harmful and dangerous invasive plant.

Giant hogweed is far less widespread in Finland than in Russia. However, in our opinion, local authorities are not paying enough attention to this problem, which could eventually lead to the same serious consequences already seen in Russia. Finnish politicians have stated that Finland aims to eradicate giant hogweed by 2038. In practice, however, we have been returning to the same sites for the third consecutive year, and apart from our volunteers, no one has been removing the plants there.

Our work is not in vain. We can already see that, after three years of continuous effort, giant hogweed has almost disappeared from several locations.

In August, we are planning another volunteer action to remove giant hogweed in Helsinki. If you would like to join us, please send us a message!