New action plan finalised for forest biodiversity in Southern Finland

Finnish Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

A new wide-ranging action plan designed to promote biodiversity in the forests of Southern Finland has been finalised by a working group appointed by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The 14-point plan aims to halt the ongoing decline in forest species and habitats, and ensure that favourable trends in forest biodiversity are established by 2016. 

The plan focuses on Southern Finland, where the need for forest protection is greatest, but where conservation work has previously been hampered by the fact that most forests are privately owned and used for commercial forestry.

The plan’s measures are designed to improve Finland’s network of protected forests and also enhance the forestry practices applied in commercially managed forests to the benefit of biodiversity. Many measures depend on the voluntary participation of landowners in conservation schemes designed to preserve valuable natural forest features. Such schemes have already been tested in the pilot Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland (METSO) over the period 2002-2007.

Forests that meet specially defined ecological criteria will be conserved and suitably managed through a process known as natural values trading, through which forest-owners voluntarily make temporary or permanent conservation agreements with the authorities in return for compensation paid under the Nature Conservation Act or the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry.  

Regional environment centres and regional forestry centres will collaborate closely on the drafting of tenders calling on landowners to offer their forests for conservation. These tenders and the related ecological criteria will be publicised among forest-owners through improved forestry advisory services.

The plan also calls for the expansion of protected areas in State-owned forests in Southern Finland by up to 10,000 hectares by 2016.

Voluntary participation of landowners crucial to success

The draft plan was officially handed over by the working group to environment minister Kimmo Tiilikainen in Helsinki today. According to Mr Tiilikainen, the plan includes a good set of tools for conserving forest biodiversity. “Forest-owners’ willingness to conserve natural values in their own forests is a key starting point for safeguarding forest biodiversity,” he said. “The new voluntary conservation means have already been successfully tried and tested during the pilot phase. Conservation policies imposed from above often result in conflicts and time-consuming appeal processes.”

“METSO has brought a new way of thinking to conservation. All the key actors have been involved, from forest-owners and the forest industries to the authorities and environmental organisations,” added Tiilikainen.

The new plan is due to become official government policy over the next few weeks in tandem with Finland’s new National Forest Programme for 2015.

The working group estimates that the total cost of implementing the action plan over the period 2008-2016 will amount to 734-1,254 million euros (€82–140m per year).

For more information:

Sirkka Hautojärvi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment,
tel. +358 20 490 7010, firstname.surname@ymparisto.fi

Aarne Reunala, Head of Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry,tel. +358 400 437 222, firstname.surname@mmm.fi

Ilkka Heikkinen, Director, Nature Conservation, Ministry of the Environment, tel. +358 040 506 1172, firstname.surname@ymparisto.fi

Translation of a press release published in Finnish on 1/8/2008