Hokkanen, T.J., Pelkonen, P., Nykänen, R., Härkönen, K., Alatossava, S., Hering, F., Tiira, M., Parkkinen, E. & Itkonen, P. Green Belt of Fennoscandia: Regional organisation & action plans in Finland

Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for North Karelia; University of Eastern Finland; Metsähallitus; Regional Council of Kymenlaakso, Municipality of Salla

The Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF) covers common border areas between Finland, Russia and Norway from Gulf of Finland to Polar Sea. GBF is based on the many-sided nature and valuable protected areas along the border. Nature hosts a remarkable fauna and flora and forms an internationally acknowledged ecological corridor. It is simultaneously the basis of regional economies and culture.
The concept of GBF has been under development since early 1990’s, but the real coordinated actions are still to start. A Memorandum of Understanding between the countries was signed in 2012 between the countries. On Finnish side, coordinated by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, an attempt has been done to gather together the GBF actors along the whole borderline and define the lines of co-operation.
In Finland GBF has been divided into three sections – Lapland, Karelia and Southeastern Finland. These coincide with the division used in the EU Neighbourhood Programme (ENPI); this is very useful from the financing point of view.
All three areas have undergone a process of putting together a regional working group and compiling an Action plan. These plans reflect the active regional partners and the directions taken so far. The three areas are different from population and nature points of view. This reflects in the emphasis of the action plans. The regional groups are mainly self-sufficient and regionally directed.
All green belt activities are not done in co-operation with Russia or Norway, but build the regional infrastructure and framework from domestic point of view. International co-operation is one of the unique features of the GBF. It is a very specialized field which requires specific financing mechanisms and dedicated actors. At the moment the international co-operation climate and financial opportunities do not favour this co-operation. This situation is not supposed to last forever. The basic international co-operation continues and the border area activities develop based on national networks, mainly. The plans and networks for increased international co-operation do exist to be used when the time will be more suitable.
Nature protection, research and tourism are basic green belt activities. They are not enough alone. The work to raise environmental awareness and promote many-sided “green infrastructure” efforts are the keys to more general understanding of the significance of the green belt and finding new, active partners. Many friends of the green belt can be found from regional and municipal structures and organisations. Mainstreaming the GBF is the challenge for the three sections to survive and thrive.