Lauri Ahopelto

Leading Expert

Doctor of Science (Water and Environmental Engineering)

Contact information

 

firstname.lastname@syke.fi
+358 50 428 5831
Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
Built environment solutions
Water risks
Latokartanonkaari 11
00790 Helsinki

LinkedIn
X (Twitter): @LauriAhopelto
Google Scholar
ORCID

Role

I work as a Leading Expert in flood and drought risk management in the Built Environment solution -unit in the Water Risks team. I conduct drought and floods related research and development projects and offer support services for our core stakeholders. I also work as a water risk specialist in the Flood Centre.

Background

I have a doctorate in Water and Environment Engineering from Aalto University. I defended my doctoral thesis about drought risk management in Finland in 2024. From 2021 to 2024, I served as an ministerial advisor in the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry. Before that, I worked at Syke and ELY-center for several years. With over 15 years of experience in the Finnish water sector, I have a solid and wide understanding of water management in Finland and the EU.

Recent Publications

All publications available from Google Scholar or ORCID. 

• Ahopelto, Sojamo, Belinskij, Soininen, and Keskinen. “Water Governance for Water Security: Analysing Institutional Strengths and Challenges in Finland.” International Journal of Water Resources Development 40, no. 2 (2024): 153–73
• Ahopelto, Kallio, Veijalainen, Kouki, and Keskinen. “Drought Hazard and Annual Precipitation Predicted to Increase in the Sirppujoki River Basin, Finland.” Climate Services 31 (2023): 100400
• Blauhut, Stoelzle, Ahopelto, Brunner, Teutschbein, Wendt, Akstinas, Bakke, Barker, and Bartošová. “Lessons from the 2018–2019 European Droughts: A Collective Need for Unifying Drought Risk Management.” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 22, no. 6 (2022): 2201–17
• Taka, Ahopelto, Fallon, Heino, Kallio Kinnunen, Niva, and Varis. “The Potential of Water Security in Leveraging Agenda 2030.” One Earth 4, no. 2 (2021): 258–68 
• Ahopelto, Veijalainen, Guillaume, Keskinen, Marttunen, and Varis. “Can There Be Water Scarcity with Abundance of Water? Analyzing Water Stress during a Severe Drought in Finland.” Sustainability 11, no. 6 (2019): 1548
• Veijalainen, Ahopelto, Marttunen, Jääskeläinen, Britschgi, Orvomaa, Belinskij, and Keskinen. “Severe Drought in Finland: Modeling Effects on Water Resources and Assessing Climate Change Impacts.” Sustainability 11, no. 8 (2019): 2450