Background The town of Salo is production home to the leading IT company, Nokia. The town and surrounding region do not suffer from any specific environmental problems and the economic development in recent years has been very favorable. However recently, issues related to environmental sustainability have come to the fore and the high quality of the environment, as embraced by the people, is becoming a strong point in promoting the competitiveness and attractiveness of the town and the surrounding region. The highly developed and accessible information technology infrastructure could be extensively utilized for the sake of the environment and to promote good practices. A comprehensive, improved environmental culture is one of the key factors for the region’s future. Objectives The project was part of the "Green Valley" development project of the Salo region. The main goal was to create an operational model and culture of environmental management in the Salo Regio, which would involve public, private and civic organisations. The following results were expected: - Development of an environmental strategy for the Salo region - Operational model of environmental management for the Salo region and demonstration of the model in Viitannummi town planning process - Counselling and training for the appropriate management of cultural landscape - Training and benchmarking for enterprises in environmental technology - GIS based environmental database as a digital service - Environmental platform in internet (eSalon) Results The project developed an environmental strategy for Salo region, approved by all partner municipalities and delivered to all households (approximately 30000) in the region. The strategy is aimed at serving as a political tool to prepare ground for the implementation of other environmental actions in the region. The strategy was reinforced by some specific actions: procurement of “green electricity” and enhancing the environmental aspects in the public procurement of the participating municipalities. The project prepared a land-use plan for the Viitannummi housing area. The novelty with this planning project, a new development in a landscape with an attractive location not far away from the centre of Salo, was to identify the new settlers well in advance and let them have a say in the technical contents of the detailed land-use plan, by-laws, as well as certain infrastructure solutions, i.e. their forthcoming everyday surroundings. The adopted procedure did not delay the planning process and resulted in a high demand for the building lots, especially by families with children who had extensive outdoor hobbies and also wanted to enjoy the assets of town and countryside living. The landscape management section of the project delivered some 60 small scale plans for biodiversity, semi-natural habitats, landscape improvement and water protection. The area has some 300 cattle farmers who are in a crucial position to maintain the meadows and thus contribute to the biodiversity. The project identified some difficulties in the application of the agri-environmental support schemes, which prevented efficient cooperation between farmers. The regional and national environmental authorities have changed their interpretation of the rules, now allowing some swapping of the pasture lands between the farmers, based on the recommendations made by the project. Some of the local cattle/meat producers established, with the sponsorship of the regional slaughterhouses, a “Pasture meat producers” organisation, aiming to promote and certify pasture fed cattle as a raw material in food industry. The promotion of environmental training at the enterprise level resulted in the establishment of two groups of enterprises, which aimed to develop waste management technology by utilising the information and communication technology related know-how, which is available in the area. ************** The project developed an environmental strategy for the Salo region, which was approved by all partner municipalities and delivered to all households (approximately 30000). The strategy aimed to serve as a political tool to prepare ground for the implementation of other environmental actions in the region. The strategy was implemented by some specific actions: procurement of “green electricity” and promoting environmental aspects in the public procurement of the participating municipalities. The project resulted in a land-use plan for the Viitanummi housing area, an important new residential area in Salo. Discussions with the forthcoming residents were initiated at the planning stage, which gave them the possibility to take part in the planning of their forthcoming surroundings. The landscape management section of the project delivered some 60 small scale plans for biodiversity, semi-natural habitats, landscape improvement and water protection. The area has some 300 cattle farmers who have a strategic role to maintain the meadows and thus contribute to the biodiversity. Some of the local cattle/meat producers established, with the sponsorship of the regional slaughterhouses, a “Pasture meat producers” organisation, which promotes and certifies pasture fed cattle. Environmental training for enterprises resulted in the establishment of two groups of enterprises aiming to develop waste management technology, by using the information and communication technology know-how which is available in the area.