Biodiversity in Finland

Finland is a part of the large Eurasian boreal zone, also called the taiga. Most of the land is covered by forests, especially conifers and to lesser extent by deciduous forests. The northernmost part of the country is covered by low treeless mountains called fells, covered with heaths and mountain birch shrubs. In southernmost Finland there is some mixture of southern broad-leaved deciduous trees (oak, linden, ash, elm, maple and hazel), but the area of these forests is very limited. Lakes are numerous and the coastal shoreline is exceptionally long, over 150 000 kilometres.

Forest management is, along with the changes in agricultural practices, the most important factor affecting biodiversity in Finland. Threats to biodiversity result also from road construction and building of holiday residences on the lakeshores. According to the latest assessment of threatened species carried out in 2000, about ten per cent of the species in Finland are threatened.

A path in Patvinsuo National Park in Eastern Finland. © Marja Pylvänäinen