Researchers have linked the death of a large number of pine trees in southern Finland this summer to climate change. Over 1,350 pine trees have died in southwestern Finland since April, when researchers began collecting observations from local residents. Speaking to AFP, Risto Kalliola, a geography professor at the University of Turku, stated, “We receive new observations daily in the university’s mapping department,” adding that the phenomenon represents a “massive localized die-off of pine trees.” He continued, “Something is happening in our environment that we must take seriously.” Kalliola pointed to several factors that may be contributing to the local tree deaths, such as harmful insects and fungal diseases that have proliferated due to climate change. “During hot summers characterized by heatwaves and weeks without rain, trees growing in vulnerable locations begin to suffer, and their ability to defend against pathogens is weakened,” he said. The most affected areas are rocky coastal regions where the dry soil is prone to drought. Groups of brown-colored pine trees have suddenly appeared along Finland’s southern coast in recent years, a phenomenon that researchers are now trying to understand. Similar cases of pine tree deaths have been recorded in other northern European countries, including neighboring Sweden, but what is new in Finland is that “this phenomenon has started to spread recently.”