Panel Session: Biodiversity & Peace
This session explores the theme of ABOAGORA 2025 from the viewpoint of planetary boundaries.
Today’s ongoing climate and biodiversity emergencies pose an imminent and ubiquitous threat to peace and, in turn, societal stability, and they are imperative for tackling the environmental crises we are facing. In their panel discussion, Anna Törnroos-Remes, Nina Tynkkynen, and Björn Vikström examine the interconnections between nature (biodiversity and climate) and human actions in general, and environmental crises and peacebuilding in particular, and reflect on what this interconnectedness means for envisioning peaceful, sustainable futures.
The session is organized by Åbo Akademi University’s Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Ocean Science (SOS) and research profiling area The Sea.
Speakers
Anna Törnroos-Remes is an associate professor (tenure track) in environmental and marine biology and the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Ocean Science (SOS) at Åbo Akademi University. Her research focuses on the functioning of coastal areas, marine environments, and particularly the seafloor. She is especially interested in what organisms do in this system, that is, what roles or functions they perform and how that translates to services for us humans, such as food resources, stabilisation of coastal landscapes, and carbon sequestration.
With a passion for life in the sea, her recent work has also inspired her to engage with disciplines such as the social sciences, business and technology, and the humanities to investigate our human relationship with the sea and marine socio-ecological challenges, or wicked problems.
Nina Tynkkynen is a professor of environmental governance and policy at Åbo Akademi University, where she also chairs the steering group of the university’s profiling area The Sea. Her research explores multi-level governance and knowledge politics, particularly in relation to marine environment and sustainability within multi-level governance frameworks. Through her leadership in interdisciplinary projects, her research has produced valuable insights on governance and policy approaches that steer societies toward a sustainable future.
Björn Vikström is a professor of systematic theology at Åbo Akademi University. His research has focused on, among other things, ecotheology and environmental ethics, minority theology, and the relation between religion and nationalism. He is currently PI of the Finnish team of a HERA-funded research project investigating how churches in Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine have reacted to Russian aggression, rising nationalism, and the threats against democracy.
