Forestry and environmental organisations in
2011
The supreme authority in forestry is the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry, which sets policy on the sustainable use of
renewable natural resources. The Ministry’s mandate is to create
conditions for the sustainable and diversified use of renewable
natural resources and to secure the quality of the commodities
obtained from them. The Ministry participates in legislation and
EU decision-making through the Government. The Department
of Forestry in the Ministry is charged with directing and developing
forest policy in Finland. The Forest and Park Service Metsähallitus,
the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla), Forestry
Development Centre Tapio and the Finnish Forestry Centre are
all under the performance guidance of the Ministry. The Natural
Heritage Services of Metsähallitus are also governed by the
Ministry of the Environment.
The organisation for the management and development of Finnish forests underlined to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, www.mmm.fi
The Finnish Forestry Centre is responsible for promoting the sustainable management
of forests, protecting their biological diversity and other
industrial livelihood activities within the forest sector. The Finnnish Forestry Centre, reorganized in 2012-2014, also monitors compliance with forest legislation and carry out other
administrative tasks. The Finnish Forestry Centre
has a public service unit and a business unit.
The Finnish Forestry Centre offers trough public service units five services; forest resources, forestry promotion, financing and inspections, customer relationship, and administrative services, which are mainly financed by state budget funds. Operations are managed from the central unit in Lahti. These services are offered to customers within all 13 regional districts.
The main services products for customers are: forest road construction and maintenance, peatland management, forest planning, services for forest road owners as well as seed and seedling production. Within the forest services, there are six domains, which are operated by local area teams. The central unit is located in Helsinki. Forest services are financed by customers and do not receive public funding.
The Forestry Development Centre Tapio is responsible for promoting the forest-based bio-economy. Tapio was reorganized in 2012; it’s activities were changed to more customer and market-based. Latest by 2015 Tapio will become a state-owned company. Tapio's offers customer services within five business units: development of bio-based economy, forest management and the bio-based energy, environment and ecosystem services, economy and politics, and forest information.
The Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) is a research and expert organisation that develops solutions for challenges and issues in forest use, products, services and immaterial values. As a sectoral research institution, Metla is required to carry out scientifically and socially effective work and to promote the competitiveness of forest-based businesses. Metla is also required to carry out official research services such as, the national forest inventory and forest monitoring, estimating and reporting sinks and emissions of the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector, and provides forest statistics.
Metsähallitus manages, uses and protects the natural resources and other property on State lands and water areas (12 million hectares) under its administration. It is required to work efficiently and to follow the principle of sustainability. Metsähallitus is an unincorporated State enterprise that both engages in business activities and manages public administration tasks funded out of the central government budget. According to the State's ownership policy, Metsähallitus manages the State’s land and water resources as a whole, from the business and the administrative point of view. The operating model will be developed to comply with existing EU competition policy requirements: business functions will be undertaken transparently by subsidiaries. Metsähallitus is the responsible authority for managing the National Parks and other protected foest areas in Finland.
Forests, forestry and wood use are studied besides Metla at
several Finnish universities and research institutions, including
the Universities of Helsinki, Eastern Finland, Turku, Oulu,
Rovaniemi and Jyväskylä, Aalto University, the private R&D
company Metsäteho, the TTS (Work Efficiency Institute), the
European Forest Institute, the Finnish Environment Institute,
the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute,
and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. In all, there
are 650 scientists involved in forest research in Finland, nearly
half of them at the Finnish Forest Research Institute. The forest
industry companies also have R&D functions of their own.
The function of the 105 Forest Management Associations
in Finland (figure as of 1 January 2011) is to promote the profitability
of forestry practised by forest owners and to support
the attainment of objectives they set to their operations. The
associations are funded and administered by the forest owners.
The associations provide expert assistance in silviculture,
timber trade and forest planning. The Forest Management Associations
are organised geographically into Unions of Forest
Management Associations (8 unions as of 1 January 2011).
The Unions in turn are members of the national interest group,
the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest
Owners (MTK).
The environmental administration promotes sustainable development,
the sustainable use of natural resources, environmental
protection, conservation of the diversity and vitality of nature,
and the maintenance of the aesthetic and cultural values
of the environment. It develops living environment and social
structures and monitors the use and maintenance of water resources.
The mandate of the Ministry of the Environment also
covers tasks involving forests. These include the maintenance of
biological diversity, prevention of environmental pollution and
detrimental changes in the atmosphere, and management and
funding of nature conservation areas.
The Ministry of the Environment has jurisdiction over the Finnish
Environment Institute (SYKE), which studies environmental
phenomena and develops solutions to manage changes. The
Ministry of the Environment also governs the Regional Centres
for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment in
matters within its domain. These Centres (13) are charged with
implementing the functions of the environmental administration
in their own districts, thereby promoting the improvement of the
environment and the sustainable use of natural resources.
There are also a number of organised interest groups, professional
associations and NGOs active in the field of forestry and
forest industry.
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