Concrete actions for biodiversity (CONABI) in Finland

Challenge

Awareness and interest in nature conservation is slowly increasing and many rural villages, associations and enterprises would like to act to improve biodiversity. However, better know-how, guidance and encouragement are needed to carry out concrete environmental actions.

Objective

The main objective of the CONABI project was to change the attitudes of stakeholders in the area towards nature and to increase awareness, interest and know-how in environmental protection. It aimed to motivate and guide local people, farmers and businesses to take concrete action to protect species, biotopes and the cultural environment and to use the gained knowledge to develop their communities.

Approach

During the project, a series of training workshops were organized on different topics (for example habitat restoration, invasive species removal, stone fence construction or biochar production). The workshops focused on concrete actions to conserve or increase biodiversity. Based on the workshops, a network of sites with concrete environmental actions was created.

Achieved Results

At the end of the project, all planned 15 workshops have been organized, reaching a total of 276 participants. Over 30 rural villages, associations and businesses have been involved and the biodiversity of the workshop sites has been improved. The network of workshop sites with concrete environmental actions has been created and will be used for environmental education and for monitoring the impact of future conservation actions.