Forest legislation
Forest legislation both restricts an owner's rights to manage the forests they own and defines their functional obligations. Forest legislation also provides financial support for engaging in private forestry.
From the perspective of a private forest owner, the most important laws relating to forestry are the Forest Act, the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry, the Act on the Control of Damage Caused by Pests and Fungi in Forests, and the Environmental Protection Act.
Forest Act
The Forest Act provides forest owners with more freedom and responsibility in managing their forests than before. Specific changes include, for example, the abolition of diameter and age limits when regenerating forests, as well as the possibility of growing forests containing trees of multiple ages simultaneously. With the revised act, the state aims to promote more diverse forest management and encourage forest owners to look after their forest properties more actively than is currently the case.
Looking at it from the forest owner's point of view, the law is very appropriate. It allows the forest owner to engage in forestry according to their own goals better than before. The fact that there are fewer regulations provides opportunities to increase the profitability of forestry. Environmentally friendly forest cultivation is also possible, or, for example, cultivation focused on the conservation of game animals.
The new, clearer version of the act, especially in terms of the definitions of highly important natural environments and the activities prohibited and permitted within them, also improves the legal protection of the forest owner.
Forest Management Association Act
The current Forest Management Association Act came into force at the beginning of 2015. According to it, forest management associations finance their operations from the membership fees of the forest owners who belong to them, as well as from income generated as a result of business activities.
Forest management associations can provide such forestry and timber trading services as their member owners desire. Associations can also decide to offer some of their services only to their members or to offer services to their members at a lower price.
The operations of forest management associations are developing
Following changes in the law, the operations of forest management associations are more than ever directed towards services for the forest owners themselves. Forest owners have become members of MTK (The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners), and the associations, together with the Confederation of Finnish Industries (Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto), have created a comprehensive and functioning interest representation network on a national scale.
For a forest owner, this means better service than before, as well as more efficient handling of affairs. A forest owner organisation that covers the whole country can provide forest owners with something that no one else can, not even in any other country. The interest representation system and its services, developed by the forest owners themselves, extend from every village through municipalities to Helsinki and even Brussels.
The operations of forest management associations have improved over a long period, and the development continues. When talking about the quality of services offered to forest owners and interest representation, the most important things are operations based on services provided in a chain, and their consolidation.
The Forest Management Association Act was evaluated in 2017 and deemed a success.
Other laws
Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry
The goal of the support system of the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry is to promote forest growth, maintain the forest road network, ensure forest biodiversity, and promote the adaptation of forests to climate change.
Currently, referring to this act, support can be received for the following work sectors:
• Early seedling tending
• Tending of young forest; the subsidy is paid at an increased rate if small trees are collected from the cultivation site
• Tending of forest growing in a swamp (includes drainage to improve the forest condition)
• Construction and simple improvement of forest roads
• Fertilisation to improve forest health
• Payment agreements for environmental conservation support and forest environment maintenance work
Before carrying out activities, the applicant must send a financing application to the Finnish Forest Centre (Metsäkeskus). If the application is intended for fertilisation, tending of forest growing in a swamp, or road construction, an implementation plan must be attached to the financing application. Early seedling tending, young forest tending, and road construction related to the tending of forest growing in a swamp can be started before the approval of the financing application, if the applicant assumes the risk that funding may not be granted. Regarding forest environment maintenance projects, the Finnish Forest Centre decides based on the submitted projects.
The latest on the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry
The Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry is being updated again for the next EU project period. MTK's goal is to simplify the support payment system, increase the support and effectiveness it provides, and abolish unnecessary controls.
· More information on the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry website
· Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry
Timber Measurement Act
The Timber Measurement Act regulates the measurement methods to be used, responsibilities related to measurement, and the acceptable measurement accuracy, according to each method.
Act on the Control of Damage Caused to Forests
The goal of the Forest Damage Prevention Act is to ensure the good health of forests of economic importance. The law seeks to ensure that the population of insects such as, for example, the European spruce bark beetle, and others that cause serious damage to forests, remains low.
One of the reasons for updating the law was, for example, the need to change the time limits for removing timber from the forest and intermediate storage because insect swarming occurs earlier than before. The law also takes into account the increased yield of undergrowth and has clarified the relationship between the forest damage law and ensuring forest diversity, as well as reviewing the justification for compensation for damage related to the forest damage law.
With the change to the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry on 18.04.2016, it was determined that the control of root rot is the responsibility of the holder of the felling permit. It is not possible to receive support for root rot control based on the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry.
Act on the Forest Centre's Forest Resource Information
The Act on the forest resource information collected and managed by the Forest Centre came into force on 01.03.2018. According to the forest information law, information about forest resources that can be classified as environmental information will henceforth be electronically available more widely than before.
For the purpose of information dissemination, the Forest Centre will create a new, freely accessible forest resource information section on the Metsään.fi website. There, freely available forest resource information can be viewed, downloaded as files, or used using a technical interface. When the law comes into force, file downloading will be introduced as the first of the options.
In the freely accessible information section, the Forest Centre will not provide information about the forest owner's name or contact details, property boundaries, or cadastral identifiers.
The Metsään.fi website, more precisely the sections currently available to forest owners and those working with forests, will also be accessible only with strict authorisation after the changes in the law. Authorised access will be for sections where, in addition to freely accessible forest resource information, there will also be information based on which it would be possible to connect the information about forest resources to a specific private individual.
Freely accessible information about forests is available both displayed in a coordinate grid and as areas marked on a map with descriptions of planned future activities. Data on natural environments that have been included in the Forest Act as especially important will also become available to the public, as well as forest use notifications and information about work related to the Act on the Financing of Sustainable Forestry.
With this publicly available information, it has previously been possible to get acquainted at Forest Centre departments or by requesting this information orally in cases where it concerned private individuals.
Act on the Trade in Forest Reproductive Material
The Act on the Trade in Forest Reproductive Material requires that the buyer of seeds and seedlings be provided with sufficient information so that they can choose suitable forest reproductive material. Seeds and plants must be of an origin that is suitable for the place where they will be planted, as well as being high-quality and healthy. The law is supervised by the Finnish Food Authority (Evira).
Environmental Protection Act
The Environmental Protection Act protects specific forest habitats, as well as important growth sites for especially protected species. Based on the Environmental Protection Act, compensation is also paid for expenses incurred as a result of forest protection.
Forest diversity
Practical forest management ensures diversity
Looking at it in terms of both area and quantity of species, forests are the most significant habitat in Finnish nature. Approximately half of our country's organisms live in the forest.
In a family farm, ensuring forest diversity is part of the normal maintenance of a forest of economic importance. Maintaining the natural structural features of the forest and the ratios of tree species is important for diversity. Forests are regenerated with native tree species, and genetically modified seedlings or seeds are not used in regeneration. Habitats important from the point of view of biodiversity are known, and they are treated as special sites.
MTK participates in the joint project of the forestry sector, "Monimetsä", or Diverse Forest. The project's goal is to develop and strengthen various operating models by using which it is possible to improve the level of environmental maintenance of forests of economic importance. The project lasts for three years.
Forests are also the most important habitat for those species that are threatened with extinction. A significant proportion of such species are found in very specialised, small habitats. The fastest way to slow down the decline in biodiversity is to preserve and maintain these habitats.
Since 1990, forest diversity has been included in forest legislation, as well as in forestry environmental regulations and recommendations, in more detail than before.
The quality of nature conservation in connection with regenerative tree felling is monitored annually with the help of a nature conservation quality assessment for forests of economic importance. According to data from monitoring carried out by the Finnish Forest Centre, nature conservation recommendations and requirements for forests of economic importance on private plots are followed well or excellently in four out of five cases of regenerative or even-aged felling. The concentration of un-felled trees, ensuring natural environments, and taking care of water protection remain among the most important points to be improved in the future.
90% of private forests are certified using the PEFC system. Certification also confirms good care for the forest environment.
Forests help to limit climate change
Forests are significant sequesterers of carbon dioxide and carbon sinks. By sequestering carbon, forests slow down the greenhouse effect and climate warming. Finnish forests have sequestered 8,000 million tonnes of carbon. The extent of forest cover and, consequently, carbon stocks have grown over the last few decades as a result of good forest management and the drainage of swamps.
By maintaining forests as productive and taking care of forest regeneration, forests will sequester more carbon than they emit. An old forest no longer sequesters carbon because rotting in it is very active. It is worth increasing the use of wood, for example, in construction, because products made from wood act as carbon sinks. MTK participates in projects that promote construction using wood. If it truly becomes more popular than fossil fuels, the use of wood energy will maintain a sustainable carbon industry.
Forests protect waters
Forests balance the water cycle and reduce the inflow of nutrients into waters.
Nitrogen and phosphorus loading in the environment promotes water eutrophication. The share of forestry in this loading is small: five percent of nitrogen and eight percent of phosphorus loading to the environment. Approximately 90% of nitrogen deposits coming from the air are sequestered by the forest. Forests are therefore nitrogen "eaters".
The load caused by forestry to waters can, however, be very significant locally. It is most visible in headwaters. The amount of run-off water coming from forest areas and the water load are increased most by such forestry activities as clearing, soil preparation, and drainage to improve the condition of the forest. Water protection measures related to forestry are constantly being improved.
Forests in EU plans
EU policy, as well as Finland's and the EU's international commitments, greatly influence the freedom of action of our national forest policy.
Although the European Union does not have a single forest policy, forests and the forest sector are increasingly at the centre of EU policy attention. The growing importance of energy and climate issues, EU environmental policy, as well as the EU 2020 strategy and its sustainable development goals affect the Finnish forest sector and the prerequisites for a Finnish forest owner's actions.
At the same time, Finland's and the EU's commitment to international agreements binds forest owners to global processes and decisions made within them. Increasingly, decisions taken by the EU are only the implementation of contractual obligations that the EU assumes in these global processes. Decisions related to forests are taken, for example, within the framework of the United Nations Forum on Forests, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as the Forest Europe conference of European forest ministers.
Protecting the interests of Finnish forest owners requires active influence on decision-making not only on a national level but also on the EU and international scale. MTK has an important role in the Nordic, European, and international forest owner organisations, as well as an active role in several EU working groups related to forestry policy and international-level processes. By actively participating, we promote the opportunities of Finnish forest owners to engage in profitable and sustainable forest management adapted to their own goals.
EU state aid guidelines for agriculture and forestry
EU state aid rules create the framework for national support systems and determine the financing possibilities of Finland's national Sustainable Forestry financing system. Therefore, at the moment when the guidelines were created, MTK had a lot at stake.
Compared to the initial proposal, the final guidelines are good, and in cooperation with Brussels and the Finnish government, several improvements were introduced to them. These include, for example, the possibility to receive support no longer just for forest environment and regeneration work, the possibility to receive compensation for work included in forestry measures; the limitation of publication requirements for individual forest subsidies from all subsidies to those exceeding EUR 200,000; the possibility to pay a subsidy for harvesting undergrowth, the continuation of the national compensation system for damage caused by elk, as well as raising the support level for damage caused by animals and forest roads for general use to 100%.
The new national support guidelines are a good basis for a sustainable local forestry financing structure.
European Forest Convention
Forest Europe is a high-level forest process of 46 European countries and the EU, the goal of which is to promote sustainable forest management and use in Europe. Started on the initiative of Finland and France in 1990, the forest ministers' process has created, for example, criteria and indicators for sustainable forestry, which have been the basis for the forest legislation and PEFC certification of many countries. All EU member states, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, Switzerland, and Norway participate in the process.
The sixth ministerial conference took place in June 2011 in Oslo. At the meeting, forest ministers decided to start negotiations on a European Forest Convention. The goal of the negotiations was to draw up a legally binding forest convention for Europe, the goal of which, in turn, is to promote sustainable forest management and use in Europe. Upon coming into force, the convention would be the first legally binding forest convention in the world that applies to several countries.
In the negotiations for the convention, the ministers agreed on those components of the convention that relate to the forest, namely definitions, principles, and goals related to forests. However, the countries were unable to agree on issues relating to the convention's procedures, such as voting procedures and which organisation would be responsible for overseeing the convention.
Official negotiations for the convention have ended, and the countries' forest ministers will decide the future of the process during 2015.
International Family Forestry Alliance (IFFA)
The International Family Forestry Alliance was founded in 2002 as an unofficial network for cooperation between national forest owner associations. Its operations were made official in 2006, when the organisation was registered. Currently, IFFA represents more than 25 million forest owners with member organisations from Europe, North America, Africa, and Australia.
The goal of the alliance is to promote family enterprises in forestry and the sustainable use of forests, as well as to support politicians who back their development in international processes. In its operations, IFFA emphasises the importance of clear and protected land ownership and usage rights, the profitability of forestry, the role of organisations founded by forest owners, and the need for supportive and guiding politicians.
Since 2009, IFFA has been working closely with international community forestry and indigenous peoples' organisations. This so-called G3 cooperation has significantly strengthened IFFA's role and visibility in the international forest policy arena.
MTK has been actively working within IFFA since its beginning as a member organisation of the organisation's board or as the chair organisation.
MTK cooperation projects for development
Currently, there is great demand for the knowledge of the Finnish forest owner organisation outside of Finland. MTK and forest management associations have been participating in cooperation projects for development since 2009. The Mexican project started that year continued in 2010, when cooperation projects were also started with forest owners in Vietnam and Ethiopia.
The initial goal of the projects is the reduction of poverty through the income that can be earned from forests. Finnish "godparent" organisations support the creation and strengthening of forest owner organisations in Mexico, Ethiopia, and Vietnam. By forest owners uniting, the goal is to achieve better supervision and services for local forest owners, and in this way also achieve the goal of sustainable forest management and use, as well as obtaining diverse benefits from forests.
In all countries, applying the knowledge and experience of Finnish forest management associations has been recognised as especially necessary and useful. For MTK and the forest management associations, these projects provide an opportunity to gain experience in international operations, as well as contacts abroad. At the same time, these projects help countries to understand the importance of sustainable forestry and use in social development and especially the invaluable importance of family farms. Looking at it from the point of view of promoting family forestry, it is an extremely important thing.
The projects have generated great interest both in international organisations and in many other developing countries. The goal is to expand the organisation's operations by starting them in other countries as well.