HS Environment The state’s forests over 120 years of age must be banned from logging, the chairman of the Nature Panel demands: “The state still cuts a lot of its old forests”

All the remaining natural forests and old-growth forests must be strictly protected throughout the EU by 2030.

In Finland, too, meeting the EU’s biodiversity strategy and halting the loss of nature require significant additional protection of forests, according to a recent report by the Finnish Nature Panel. It says protection should begin immediately in the state’s old-growth forests.

Now the situation is alarming, says the chairman of the Nature Panel, professor of ecology at the University of Jyväskylä Janne Kotiaho. Old forests are dwindling and immediate action is needed to save them.

First all old-growth forests in the state should be banned from logging.

“It would be appropriate to impose a temporary ban on all Metsähallitus’ forests over 120 years of age until it has been determined how the goal of the EU’s biodiversity strategy will be met,” says Kotiaho.

A temporary ban on logging would last so long that a national decision on the definition and strict protection of old-growth and natural forests has been completed.

“The state continues to cut down its old forests, even though the EU forestry strategy calls on member states to refrain from cutting them down. We will lose the last ones if they do not come under strict protection. That is why protection must be launched without delay. ”

Finland’s nature panel has calculated what the EU’s biodiversity strategy means for Finland and how Finland can achieve its share of the goals of strict forest protection. Strict protection means protection under the law and that no deforestation is allowed in the area.

“Protection based on the voluntary ownership of the landowner is a priority, but even voluntary protection must be implemented in such a way that nature comes under strict protection,” says Kotiaho.

Nature panel according to which a fair solution would be provincial protection. It would safeguard the diversity of forest nature throughout Finland.

According to the method, all remaining old and natural forests and a total of at least ten percent of the area of ​​Finland’s forested habitats in all provinces would be brought under strict protection.

Protected areas should be significantly increased, especially in southern Finland, and the implementation of protection requires considerable additional resources.

The Nature Panel estimates that the need for additional funding for forest protection would be approx EUR 6.8 billion. This means € 760 million a year until the end of the 2030 target year.

“In terms of fairness, it is important that the financial base for additional protection is secured and the financial losses of forest owners are compensated,” says Kotiaho.

EU the goal is to restore biodiversity by 2030.

According to the strategy, legal protection must cover at least 30% of the EU’s land and sea areas. At least 10% of this must be strictly protected.

In addition, all remaining natural forests and old-growth forests must be strictly protected, regardless of area.

The preconditions for the preservation of biodiversity must be safeguarded throughout Finland, Luontopaneeli emphasizes. Because nature is different in different places, diversity cannot be safeguarded by protecting nature only in a certain area, such as northern Finland.

“The even distribution of protected areas by provinces is also justified from the point of view of the territorial justice of the citizens,” Kotiaho points out.

Current protected areas are concentrated in northern Finland. Less than three percent of the forest land in southern Finland is strictly protected.

There are so few old-growth forests in southern Finland that, in addition to the already existing protected areas, they are not enough to meet the 10% protection target.

According to the calculations of the Nature Panel, there are more than 400,000 hectares of unprotected old-growth forests in southern and northern Finland.

In order for the 10 per cent strict protection target to be met by province, in addition to all old-growth forests, a further 471,000 hectares of forest land in southern Finland and 176,000 hectares of forest land in northern Finland should be set aside for strict protection.

The state has a total of about 650,000 hectares of unprotected forest land in southern Finland and about 2.9 million hectares in northern Finland.

Some of these are more valuable in terms of nature conservation than the average Metso diversity program sites located on land owned by private forest owners.

Biodiversity strategy was approved by the EU Commission in May 2020. Finland is also committed to it.

The strategy states that each Member State must play its part, although the target percentages are not distributed between Member States.

If Finland wants to be responsible, it will adhere to a fair burden-sharing and protect at least a proportion of its area that meets the common goals, the report of the Nature Panel states.

“For example, if Finland did not protect 30% of its land and sea area, more than 30% of its own equivalent areas would have to be protected in the corresponding vegetation zone of another Member State in order to achieve the EU-level target,” says Kotiaho.

In its study, the Nature Panel has focused on targeting the protection of the largest habitat in Finland and thus the most important for species, ie forest protection.

Safeguarding biodiversity requires that the protected area be raised to the target level also by non-forested habitats.