Forest Club model projects and sites

5.3 Finland

Productive forest land in Finland totals 20 million ha. A total of 714 274 ha (3.6%) of these lands is under strict protection in Finland (See Table 6). Additionally 170,130 ha of forest are protected under a restricted forest management scheme. This protection status is not recognized by many Finnish NGOs as logging is allowed in some areas. Protected forests are concentrated in the north of Finland. Only 1% of productive forest land in the south of the country is protected (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of the Environment 1999).

Table 6. Protected productive forest areas in Finland

Strict nature reserves	33,578 ha
National Parks	232,886 ha
Old-growth protection program	181,113 ha
Peatland protection program	98,938 ha
Herb-rich forests protection program	2,866 ha
Special protected areas	26,806 ha
Protected wilderness areas	97,600 ha
Other	40,487 ha
TOTAL	714,274 ha

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and
Ministry of the Environment 1999.

The areas detailed in Table 6 include 204,120 ha, in which an official decision for protection has been made but has not yet been enacted. However, no logging can take place on these areas during this phase. This area falls into the following categories:

• old-growth protection program 173,000 ha,
• peatland protection program 30,000 ha,
• herb-rich forests protection program 1,120 ha.

(Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of the Environment 1999).

Inventory Status

In the 1990s as part of the Old-Growth Conservation Program, the government carried out old-growth forest inventories (thorough mapping of more than 1300 sites on 0.5 million ha). The resulting inventories in the north of the country were systematic and extensive; however, the inventories carried out in southern Finland were less systematic and some old-growth forests may have been excluded. Key biotope inventories were started in the mid-1990s and by 1999 forests covering about 5 million ha of private forests have been inventoried. It is planned that all private forests will be inventoried by 2002. The Forest and Park Service has carried out similar inventories on approximately 5 million ha of state-owned productive forest land. These inventories are to be finished in the year 2000. Private forest companies reportedly have their own inventories on-going (WWF 2000).

Finnish old-growth forest (Ahiola/Suomussalmi, Finland).
Photo: Eberhard Weckenmann.

Certification

The development of certification in Finland has been a complicated process because of disagreements and conflicts between the different stakeholders. There are several Finnish NGOs, which are members of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The process to develop a national FSC standard for sustainable forest management has been slow going and often interrupted by disagreement. Currently there is no national FSC standard in Finland. The national Finnish Forest Certification System (FFCS) is supported by the traditional forest sector, primarily by the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) and the forest industry. This national standard falls under the umbrella of the Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) system. Under this system there is only limited protection for old-growth forests or valuable areas. Altogether FFCS standard is estimated to additionally protect some 1% of the forest area (Anju Asunta, pers. com.). Finnish NGOs do not consider the FFCS standard a sufficient certification for biodiversity protection (Finnish Nature League 1999).

Protection Targets

According to Finnish scientists the present reserve network should be enlarged, and in the long run the level of protection should be at least 10% of forest land protected in each biological forest zone (Toivonen 1999). There is no indication that this recommendation has been adopted into Finnish state policy or management practices.

Monetary Compensation for Protection

According to the National Forest Program as approved by the Finnish Government, 1999, the Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture will increase funding for forest nature management from FIM 15 million (EUR 2,5 million) to FIM 25 million (EUR 4,2 million) annually. This includes, e.g., financial support for private forest owners for losses due to protecting important forest sites, implementation of management plans, and completion of the mapping of extremely important habitats. The Ministry of Environment will increase funding for the management of protected areas from FIM 72 million (EUR 12,1 million) to FIM 84 million (EUR 14.1 million) in year 2000 and to FIM 96 million (EUR 16.1 million) by year 2003. Altogether FIM 3,300 million (EUR 560 million) will be used in implementation of ratified protection programs on private owned lands of which some FIM 1000 million (EUR 170 million) will be used for forest protection (The Finnish Governmental Decision on March 3 and November 18, 1999).

The total amount of money for nature protection under the National Forest Program is increasing; however, it is allocated to manage existing protection areas and to complete existing protection programs. There is no money for new forest reserves. The National Forest Program is a guideline and not binding, so it remains to be seen how much money in the end is actually put into nature conservation in general.

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