Preserving highly biodiverse boreal forests in South Karelia in Finland

Challenge

Along the Finnish Green Belt, the boreal forests in South Karelia are particularly poorly protected, with only 1% coverage so far. Other woodland is heavily exploited due to a dense concentration of pulp and paper mills and timber industry. The biodiversity of the remaining valuable forest sites, mostly owned by private forest farms, urgently needs to be secured. 

Objective

The project aimed to actively inform and assist private forest owners in preserving the remaining biodiversity, either through protective measures or by introducing new silvicultural methods. By targeting these actions at particular areas, the project could pave the way for the creation of an ecologically valuable forest nature network, which could be a small step towards establishing the first national park in South Karelia.

Approach

The project achieved its goals by:

• locating valuable forests, and performing a background survey based on nature value inventories from the field;
• contacting landowners, and providing advice and negotiating to encourage them to rethink their forestry practices;
• disseminating new ideas through webinars, field trips, media releases, social media and websites.

Achieved Results

The project identified 159 forest sites and contacted around 50 landowners who own sites with high nature value. At least five sites (covering around 110 hectares) are likely to be protected, and 14 landowners have expressed interest in transitioning to gentler forms of silviculture (covering around 150–200 hectares). The full extent of the project's impact will only become apparent in the coming years.