Metsiensuojelun tavoitteita 2000-luvun suomessa - BirdLife Suomi

Summary: The Future of Metsähallitus, The FinnishNational Forest ServiceBy Sini Harkki and Keijo SavolaThe state owns around one quarter of Finland’s forest land. The majority lies in the northand east of the country, although there are significant holdings also further south. Virtuallyall state forests are governed by the Finnish State Forest Service, Metsähallitus.Finnish state forests are relatively intensively managed in order for Metsähallitus tofulfil its annual payment target to the state treasury, a target set annually by the parliamentbased on Metsähallitus’s own estimates. Around 90 per cent of Metsähallitus’s income comesfrom logging, some of which is causing conflicts of interest in both southern and northernFinland. In the north (= defined for forestry purposes as Lapland as well as the adjacentregions of Kainuu and Pohjois-Pohjanmaa) the biggest concerns are the harmful effectsof logging on reindeer herding, on tourism and travel, and on biodiversity. In southernFinland current Metsähallitus policy is harmful especially to smaller protected sites and toprospects for increasing the size of national parks. Metsähallitus’s operations are too centredon logging for achieving ecological, social or even overall economic sustainability.The forest conservation programme proposed here would in 2003–2010 protect a totalof 500 000 hectares of state forest, of which 350 000 hectares in northern, and 150 000hectares in southern Finland. An additional 50 000 hectares would be used in exchange forprivate lands being acquired for conservation. In 2011–2020 a further 350 000 hectares ofstate forest would be set aside for protection, of which 250 000 in southern Finland and100 000 further north. Another 50 000 hectares would be used for exchange purposes alsoin this period. Alongside measures in non-state forests, this programme would raise thepercentage of protected forest land to 11, which is in line with ecologists’ estimates of theminimum requirement for the majority of forest species to retain a favourable conservationstatus.With regard to developing Metsähallitus’s policies, conservation groups emphasisemost the need to lower the annual payment requirement to the state, as well as changingthe decision-making process for agreeing on this figure. In addition, Metsähallitus shouldrefrain from logging in areas important for conservation, nature tourism and recreation, orfor reindeer husbandry by the Saami people – the Saami have had to appeal to the UN Courtof Human Rights to save some of their traditional grazing areas from logging. Decisionmakingon the use of state land should be better balanced; this would be achieved by movingMetsähallitus’s nature departments under regional environment authorities and byincreasing regional environment centres’ say in conservation planning matters concerningstate forests.77