Forest management has many goals

Finnish forest management has many goals: in addition to the production of good-quality timber material, the goals include the safeguarding of forest biodiversity , improving its appropriateness, and all other uses of the forest, such as leisure activities, hunting and gathering. The goals are met using two sets of tools: improving the management of commercial forests and expanding the network of protected forests. The rationale is that the better the management of commercial forests can meet all goals of forest policy, the fewer forests need to be excluded from productive use. The multiple use of forests is a principle particularly applied to the management of commercial forests, while the use of protected forests for other purposes is only limited or not possible at all.

The threat caused by forestry to forest biodiversity was noted a long time ago. The first Finnish national park was established in 1938, but the planning of systematic nature protection programmes began in the 1970s. In the management of commercial forests, a greater change was not seen until the 1990s.

The Finnish network of protected areas is sufficient in an international comparison. However, in southern Finland, Ostrobothnia and southwest Lapland, the network is not considered adequate. To overcome this, the Finnish Government adopted the Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland in October 2002. The programme is, however, only partly based on the setting up of protected areas.

	21. Forest protection in Finland, change in the world's forested area.
	22. Share and area of strictly protected forests in certain European countries in 2000.

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