Jari Parviainen 15.1.2014Jari Parviainen Metla 15.1.2014

How the pan-European Criteria and Indicators for

Sustainable Forest Management

have been applied in Finland ?

Jari Parviainen

Finnish Forest Research Institute METLA

Metsa2013 side event 12 December 2013 Rovaniemi

Experiences and future of Sustainable Forest Management in Europe

Forests are very important for Finland

Main Facts of Finland’s Forests

• Growing stock increased for past 50 years,

cuttings 60% from annual growth

• Forest ownership structure, 67 % privately owned

• 23 Mio ha forest (76% of land area)

• The forest sector contributes 4 % of Finland’s GDP

• In Finland 13,0% of the forests protected for the

biological diversity

• Forests sequestrate about 60% of the emissions

of Finnish industries

Finland has 20 years experiences in the use of

criteria and indicators for sustainable forest

management

-Definition of SFM:

http://www.foresteurope.org/docs/MC/MC_helsinki

_resolutionH2.pdf

-First set of indicators developed under the Finnish

chairmanship 1994-1995 ( European expert group)

- First national set of indicators with National

Report 1997

Second Ministerial Conference on the Protection of

Forests in Europe 16-17 June 1993, Helsinki/Finland

National Criteria & Indicator set

Four national reports on SFM 1997-2013Stakeholder group nominated by the Finnish Ministry of

Agriculture and Forestry

1997 in Total 160 quantitative indicators with policy

explanations

2000 in Total 48 indicators (qualitative and quantitative)

2007 in Total 37 quantitative and 12 qualitative indicators

- Finland´s Forests in nutshell, evaluation on the status

2011 In Total 37 quantitative and 12 qualitative indicators

- country specific indicators: impacts of FM on water,

building with wood, potential impact of climate

change and ecosystem services

- Finland´s Forests in nutshell, evaluation on the status

- Comparision to European situation (key indicators)

2000

2007

2011

1997

Jari Parviainen15.1.2014

Jari Parviainen 15.1.2014

Monitoring of SFM by Pan-European C&I: Finnish set 2011

1. ForestResources

• Forest area • Growing stock • Age structure/Diameter distribution

• Carbon stock • Building with wood

6. Socio-economic

• Forest holdings

• Contribution of forest sector to GDP

• Net revenue• Expenditures for services• Wood consumption• International trade in wood• Workforce• Employment (incl. safety and health)

• Accessibility for recreation• Cultural values• Energy from wood resources

2. Forest Health

•Deposition of air

pollutants

•Soil condition

•Defoliation

•Forest damage

• Impact of climate change

3. Productive

Functions• Increment and fellings• Roundwood• Non-wood goods • Forests under management plans

• Ecosystem services

37 QUANTITATIVE

INDICATORSwith

12 DESCRIPTIVE

INDICATORS

5. Protective

Functions

• Area of protective forests

• Infrastructure (Waters by

forest management)

4. Biological

Diversity

•Tree species composition

•Regeneration

•Naturalness

• Introduced tree species

•Dead wood

•Genetic resources

•Landscape pattern

•Threatened forest species

•Protected forests

Principal up-to-date sources

• The National Forest Inventory by Metla

• The Finnish Statistical Yearbook of Forestry (Metla)

• Metinfo services and other statistics of various

actors, special research results,

• Monitoring on the threatened species of SYKE

(Finnish Environmental Institute)

( RED BOOK every 10 years, 2000, 2010)

• Result reported for the whole country, and partially

also by Forestry Centre Districts (13 districts)

Information sources for the report

Use of C&I set in Finland

• Presentation of and reporting in forestry as basic information onforests

• Monitoring and assessment on the progress of National ForestProgram, other policy processes, and impact of policy decisions

• Steering forest management and forest certification

• Educational and communication purposes in Finland as well asinternationally

• Research purposes, framework for statistics, science /policy interface

Some examples as applications:

- assessment of policy decisions in the forest management

- forest information by other sectors as forestry

- dialogue and communication

Link from policy to the forest management

- observed changes in forests biodiversity

Trends in 15 years:

• The area of protected forests has been tripled over the

past 35 years.

• The rate of decline of certain forest species has slowed

down in Finland, or in some cases even stopped since the

1990s, although it has not been possible to halt the decline

in forest species overall

• Retention trees at felling sites have been particularly

important in curbing the decline trends

Jari Parviainen 15.1.2014

Decisions: A. Forest management oriented to the biological diversity by mitigating the

natural development cycle of forests as a statutory requirement in Finland since 1997(New

forest law).

Requirements: In commercial forests the protection of

valuable habitats and biotopes, favouring of mixed

tree stands, and increasing the amount of decayed wood.

B: Intensive program for increasing forest

protection areas, and Metso program

Cucujus cinnaberinus

Providing information to other sectors

3. Findicator (Prime Minister’s Office plus experts):

key society indicators in Finland ; forest related are: increment and

fellings, threatened species, renewable energy resources

2. Indicator set for the new Nordic strategy for sustainable

development (Nordic Council of Ministers):

forest related indicators: increment and fellings; renewable energy in total

energy consumption; emissions from LULUCF

1. International activities

- UN Millennium development goals: goal 7 ensure environmental

sustainability > land area covered by forests

- CBD, GHG, Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF)

- SEBI (EU) Biodiversity indicators

- Standards for sustainable produced biomass for energy purposes

CEN/TC 383, ISO 13065

Findicatorhttp://www.findicator.fi/en

Dialogue and communication

State of Finland’s

Forests 2011

Report

Broschure

Online presentationPress release and articles

Conclusions

Criteria and indicators for SFM and reports based on these are

considered as a very important because of following aspects:

1. Providing a balanced compendium of information on SFM

2. Giving a broader view than the traditional statistics for informing onforests

3. Showing long-term trends and change in the forests

4. Integrating the forest policy goals and decisions with the measurableindicators

5. Making a continuous base for the international comparability

6. The C&I set needs to be revised, more combined indicators should bedeveloped, dialogue with other sectors should be strenghened, and modern communication tools for public should be applied

Jari Parviainen15.1.2014

Thank you

Contact: Jari Parviainen

Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) Joensuu Yliopistokatu 6, FIN 80100 JOENSUU

email: jari.parviainen@metla.fi

ReferenceParviainen, J. & Västilä, S. 2011. State of Finland´s Forests 2011.

Based on the Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest

Management (pdf, 23 Mb). Ministry on Agriculture and Forestry and

Finnish Forest Research Institute. 99 p