Safeguarding the opportunities of the public
for participation (B.10)
One commonly recognised aspect of social sustainability is the
opportunity of stakeholders and the public to participate in decision
making. Experience shows that transparency and co-operation
between different stakeholders already in the planning
stage is an efficient way of preventing conflicts.
In Finland, extensive forest programmes and projects are usually
prepared in working groups with representation from various
interest groups, including forest owners, forest industry, trade
unions, tourism and nature conservation organisations, youth
organisations, hunters, reindeer herding associations and public
authorities. Typical forms of participation include stakeholder
hearings and requesting statements from interest groups in the
planning stage of projects and programmes.
International conventions and commitments
The international instrument safeguarding opportunities for
public participation is the Convention on Access to Information,
Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice
in Environmental Matters, known as the Aarhus Convention
(1998). Issues concerning public participation are also addressed
in commitments made by the UN Conferences on Environment
and Development and the Ministerial Conference on the Protection
of Forests in Europe.
National programmes and legislation
The established practice of governance includes the provision
of opportunities for public participation. The Administrative
Procedure Act and the Act on the Openness of State Activities
contain general provisions governing public administration.
They are applied to promote the opportunities of citizens
to receive information about matters that involve them and to
participate in decision making.
The special rights of local inhabitants in Lapland and the archipelago
to traditional livelihoods, hunting and berry collecting are
enshrined in the Act for Traditional Means of Livelihood, the
Hunting Act, and the Off-Road Traffic Act. The preservation of
the cultural heritage and livelihoods of the Sámi is addressed in
the Act on Wilderness Reserves and the Skolt Act.
The right of public participation and associated procedures have
been reinforced in recent comprehensive reforms of legislation
on environmental management. Extensive opportunities for public
participation are ensured especially in land use planning, nature
conservation and the procedure for environmental impact
assessment and permits.
Information dissemination and interaction
The democratic system of decision-making in Finland supports
public participation. The key development goals are to increase
opportunities for interaction and enhance the use of information
networks. Attitude surveys and opinion polls are used to
find out about popular attitudes towards and views on forest
management and forests. The activities of NGOs are supported
by granting funds for their operation from government funds.
Forest owners’ and civil organisations participate in many preparatory
and decision-making processes. Direct channels of
participation have also been established. For example, an Internet
forum for consultation with citizens is used for finding
new ways to form a foundation for reviewing the national strategy
and action plan on promoting biodiversity. Regional forest
programmes are drawn up by the Finnish Forestry Centre in cooperation
with the stakeholders of forestry in their area. The regional
natural resources programmes and landscape-ecological plans
of Metsähallitus are drawn up in a participatory process where
local inhabitants and stakeholders have an opportunity to take
part in the preparation of the plans.
Local inhabitants have the opportunity to influence the management
of forests and woods in built-up areas through participatory
processes incorporated in land use planning procedures.
Many municipalities use surveys and questionnaires to monitor
outdoor activities and the wishes of the public, organise public
discussions on the management plans for municipal forests and
publish information about harvesting.
Because of the great importance of forests for Finnish society,
discussion about them is lively and very broad. Forest issues
are also dealt with in Government programmes. Because forest
ownership is broad-based, approximately 739,000 Finns
have a direct contact with forests as forest owners. The protection
of forests and the interests of forest-dependent industries
in northern Lapland have necessitated the greatest efforts to
reconcile the different views.
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