Forest Club model projects and sites

5.5 International Protection Mechanisms

International and multilateral conservation conventions and initiatives also have the potential to affect the forests of Fennoscandia and Northern European Russia. Sweden, Norway, and Finland are all parties to the 1992 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity as well as the 1979 Bern Convention on Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Russia has signed on to the Convention on Biological Diversity but not the Bern Convention. Sweden and Finland as members of the European Union are also party to the European Union Habitats Directive, which was adopted in 1992. The Directive requires conservation of endangered species and habitats and is working to set up and implement a network of protected areas called NATURA 2000. This European Union initiative also makes available funding for habitat protection, for the Western Taiga. This is an administrative demarcation of the European boreal within the boundaries of the European Union, thus only including Finland and Sweden.

Unevenaged old-growth pine forest in Kalevala area
(Karelia Republic, Russia). Photo: Alexei Yaroshenko.

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