Local knowledge in nature conservation management : Situation in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands

This review was compiled within the project “Building Shared Knowledge capital to support natural resource governance in the Northern periphery – BuSK” (2016-2019) financed by the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme (2014-2020). The chapters of the review give an overview of collaborative nature protection practices of state agencies at national and local level in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and Faroe Islands. A few innovative non –governmental arrangements are also described. In Finland, the state forest management agency Metsähallitus has played a central role in the evolution of public participation procedures with the help of development projects and planning systems. At local level, the reform of the Finnish Land Use and Building Act in 1999 has led to significant strengthening of stakeholder involvement in planning. According to researchers, participation in international nature conservation negotiations has been important for increasing involvement of local people in Sweden. In northern Sweden, the Laponia process within the Laponia World Heritage Site is an innovative effort based on cooperation involving indigenous Sami people. In Norway, political processes have led to decentralisation of nature conservation management through the establishment of local protected area management boards and advisory councils. There exist numerous Norwegian studies dealing with these recent nature conservation reforms. Debates dealing with energy development proposals, nature conservation and tourism have been common in Iceland during recent decades. An Icelandic speciality is the abundance of potential geotourism destinations. Public participation practices are evolving within the three UNESCO World Heritage Sites established recently in Greenland. The sites have been planned cooperatively, and the documents compiled for UNESCO contain a lot of up-to-date information, and enable follow up and monitoring. Debates dealing with natural resource governance between planning authorities, local actors and stakeholders are common in the Faroe Islands. The Faroese land use problems are often connected to fishing, aquaculture and tourism. The Sami Parliaments in Finland, Sweden and Norway play an important role in decision-making processes in the Sami areas. Finland and Sweden are members in the European Union. Natura 2000 Network and Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) are EU-wide systems with a participatory dimension. The developments within Natura 2000 Network are important for public participation because most of the nature conservation areas in the EU member countries belong to the Network. The directive-based MSP–process is applying cutting edge public participation procedures in preparing maritime spatial plans by the year 2021. The new maritime spatial plans are required to be integrated with the more established land use plans to include the “land-sea interaction” aspect into planning. The establishment of international UNESCO networks of World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves and Geoparks has also increased local involvement in natural resources management. The importance of land use planning legislation in enhancing public involvement is a common feature in the BuSK countries. Out-migration from rural areas is a problematic trend in all the regions included in this report. This has led to increased discussion on the role of nature conservation areas in local economy and to efforts to develop nature-based tourism.

2020