Cherishing Finland’s unique wildlife
Ecologists are worried about the ongoing decline in the biological diversity of life on our planet. Anchored in solid research, Finland’s new national action plan aims to ensure that the diversity of Finnish nature is sustainably managed and conserved.
“Species diversity is high for many species groups, including wetlandbirds, fungi, and forest insects that feed on decaying wood,” says
Professor Heikki Toivonen, Research Director of the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).
Finland has special responsibility within the EU for conserving many
breeding birds and forest animals including the exotic flying squirrel,
found here at the westernmost edge of its range. This is also one of the few countries where Europe’s four large predators – bears, wolves, wolverine and lynx – still roam.
According to Toivonen, biological diversity is very well studied
in Finland by international standards.
“We have listed some 44,000 known native species here, and including as yet unrecorded species the total number of species could be 50,000 or more. Thanks to recent research work, we hope to be able to evaluate the conservation status of up to 20,000 species for our next Red List survey in 2010.”
Finland’s current Red List classifies about 10 per cent of evaluated
species as threatened. Conserving biodiversity, which is likely to be affected by climate change, is increasingly seen as a vital global goal.
According to Toivonen, new species are already visibly spreading into Finland from the south, including as many as ten new butterfly and moth species every year. But at the same time, specialist species of northern forests and arctic fells could face extinction in Finland and throughout Europe as a whole as their habitats shrink. One such species that may no longer breed in Finland is the arctic fox. A warmer climate could thus mean a net gain in species diversity for Finland itself, but significant losses from a wider perspective.
Toivonen believes that extended networks of protected areas are the
best way to conserve biodiversity in the face of threats including intensified logging pressure and the further fragmentation of wild habitats, as well as global warming.
One such scheme is a projected “green belt” of reserves running from the Gulf of Finland all the way up to the Arctic Ocean along both sides of the Finnish-Russian border. This kind of natural corridor would enable species to shift their ranges northwards as conditions change.
By Fran Weaver
Photos Laura Vuoma and Hannu Hautala/Kuvaario
