Assessment, Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Biodiversity

Assessment and Monitoring
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CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST
MANAGEMENT IN FINLAND
Jouni Suoheimo*, Jaana Kaipainen, Heli Mikkela & Elina Nikkola
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 30, FIN-00023 Government, Finland
E-mail: jouni.suoheimo@mmm.fi
Keywords: criteria, indicators, sustainable forest management, biodiversity
Introduction
Finland is located in Northern Europe between the 60th and 70th parallels of latitude, and a quarter of the
Finnish territory lies north of the Arctic Circle. The total surface area of Finland is 337,000 km 2 , and the land
area is 305,000 km 2 . 68 per cent of the total area is covered by forest, and the share of agricultural land is 8 per
cent. Owing to the climatic conditions there is a lot of peatland in Finland, accounting for about 11 per cent of
the total surface area. Finland lies in the boreal coniferous forest zone, whose four sub-zones, hemiboreal as
well as southern, central and northern boreal forest zones, are determined mainly on the basis of the
temperature sum and vegetation. There are altogether 24 tree species native to Finland, and the number of
coniferous species is only four: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and juniper (Juniperus
communis) as well as yew (Taxus baccata), which occurs naturally on the Åland islands. Economically the most
important tree species are Scots pine (45 per cent of the volume of the growing stock, Norway spruce (37 per
cent) as well as downy and silver birch (Betula pubescens and Betula pendula, altogether 15 per cent). The share
of the other species is only 3 per cent. Certain deciduous species, such as aspen (Populus tremula) and goat
willow (Salix caprea), are highly significant as they maintain a large number of species of living organisms.
In the Second Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Helsinki in 1993, the European countries
and European Union made a commitment to promote the implementation of the principles of sustainable
forest management established at the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992,
both nationally and internationally. The criteria for sustainable forest management and the quantitative and
descriptive indicators for this were drawn up in the monitoring of the Helsinki Resolution, the so-called
Helsinki process.
These criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management and the related principles on the level of
praxis were approved at the Third Ministerial Conference in Lisbon in 1998. The signatory countries
undertook to continue the application, revision and development of the criteria and indicators.
In Finland national criteria and indicators have been applied since 1994, and the first comprehensive report on
the state of sustainable forest management in Finland was completed in 1997. At this first stage of the
application the pan-European criteria and indicators were adjusted to the Finnish conditions. In particular,
the criteria were modified and complemented by including indicators for the biological diversity of forest
ecosystems and socio-economic sustainability.
Selection of criteria and indicators - the first round
The first criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in Finland were established in 1995. The list
of criteria covered all aspects of sustainable forest management: forest resources and their contribution to
carbon cycles, vitality and health of forest ecosystems, wood products and other forest products, biological
diversity and conservation of forest ecosystems, significance of forests in the protection of soil and waters, as
well as the social, economic and cultural significance of forests. A number of qualitative and descriptive
indicators was selected to show the realisation of measures relating to each of the criteria.
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