State of the Parks in Finland – Finnish Protected Areas and Their Management from 2000 to 2005

State of the Parks in Finland is the first comprehensive report on protected areas, nature and wilderness reserves, the most valuable part of Finnish nature. National parks have been established in Finland since the 1930’s and the protected area network has been constructed since the 1970’s. The protected area system is today an important part of the nature conservation networks of the Boreal region, the Baltic Sea and the European Union.

The Natural Heritage Services unit of the state enterprise Metsähallitus manages a major part of the established protected areas and those reserved for conservation on State land.

This report presents the State of protected areas in Finland in 2005 by

• reviewing the milestones made in conservation of national biodiversity and describing changes that have taken place in the surrounding environment during the past few years
• introducing the national administration, conservation programmes and protected area system
• displaying the diversity of natural and cultural as well as recreational values
• describing the use and users of protected areas
• explaining the challenges of protected area management through analysis of pressures and threats faced by biodiversity in natural and man-made environments
• evaluating productivity and effectiveness of Metsähallitus in managing the protected areas by using measures and indicators– summarizing the results at regional and national levels
• presenting examples of significant outputs and outcomes as well as best practices
• looking into the challenges of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the immediate future reflecting on the National Biodiversity Strategy 2006-2016 and the 2010 targets set in the context of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (CBD).

The report gives a comprehensive overview of the present state and the level of knowledge on the protected area network in Finland. A review of the state and level of biodiversity conservation in each of the major ecosystems helps to understand why protected areas are essential and in need of good management. The State of the Parks report also pinpoints the ecological, cultural, social and economical benefits offered by national parks and other protected areas.

State of the Parks reporting carries out objectives of the CBD work programmes. Frameworks used for the reporting are the Management Effectiveness Evaluation methodology designed by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the model for environmental monitoring developed by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the concept of Adaptive Management in management and use of natural resources.

State of the Parks reporting on Finnish protected areas will be repeated in 2010.