Finland to set forest restoration targets without public consultation

Finland’s government plans to prepare its targets for restoring boreal natural forests behind closed doors and submit them to the European Commission without a public consultation, Yle reports.

Boreal natural forests are Finland’s largest habitat type and a central part of the European Union’s restoration regulation, which will guide member states’ nature policies for decades.

The forests were initially left outside Finland’s restoration plan after the government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry debated changing their definition. The government now intends to determine politically how much of the forests would be restored and how much would remain in commercial use.

Janne Kotiaho, chair of the Finnish Nature Panel, strongly criticised the process. He said the issue should be prepared carefully and with broad public input, but that the current process was far from proper consultation.

Kotiaho also said it was impossible to assess whether the plan would meet the EU regulation’s targets for forests if it had not been subject to public comment.

WWF Finland is also calling for the forest targets, along with the rest of the restoration plan, to be made public and sent through a new consultation before the plan is submitted to the Commission.

The consultation that ended in late August covered other habitats, including peatlands and bodies of water. However, only a summary of the restoration plan was made available, rather than the full plan and its impact assessment.

The Ministry of the Environment says the forest section can be opened for comment next year.

The EU restoration regulation requires member states to restore 30 per cent of degraded areas belonging to habitats covered by the relevant directives by 2030. In Finland, about one million hectares of degraded habitats are expected to be restored in the first phase.

Restoration can include measures such as removing dams from rapids, increasing deadwood in forests, restoring peatlands and maintaining or expanding urban green spaces. The regulation is intended to halt the loss of biodiversity.