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Strategy and policy
Reform Support

Preparedness for emerging forest pest risks in Finland

Supporting reforms to transition to a green economy and fight climate change

Funding Programme
Year
  • 2021

Preparedness for emerging forest pest risks in Finland

The request targets the problem of emerging forest pests in Finland, particularly serious and growing due to the impact of climate change and the emergence of alien species of pests (mainly beetles) in Finnish forests. 

The ultimate objective of the project was the development of an effective general contingency plan strengthening protection against emerging forest pests in Finland. Support was also used for building networks, changing know-how and ideas during workshops, webinars and study visits with the other EU-members affected or threatened by the same priority forests pests. 

In the longer term, this project will contribute to an increased resilience of Finnish forests, a more solid economic recovery of the sector and a more stable climate-regulation function.

Context 

Several insect-outbreaks have been registered in the recent past in many Nordic countries, and climate models predict an increase of this phenomena in the future. Forestry is an extremely important economic sector in Finland. The forest and timber industry provides revenue to many communities. The boreal forest is also an important carbon sink. This makes forest resilience a crucial economic, environmental and climate-related objective. Climate change is already having significant impacts on forest ecosystems, and these seem likely to be greater in the future. Therefore, managing increasingly disturbed forests is an important global challenge.

Support delivered 

The support measures included: 

  1. A contingency plan for forest damage caused by emerging alien pests. The plan should:
    1. identify the general roles, responsibilities, skills and knowledge requirements during a response.
    2. consider the impact of different methods of pest dispersal on incursion management.
    3. present technical checklists for use by the experts and private forest owners when planning diagnosis, impact assessment, selection of emergency control treatments, surveys, quarantine and movement controls, eradication and stand down.
  2. Specific plans for different quarantine pests, based on the ones already adopted for emerging but endemic species.
  3. Recommendations and specifications for an IT tool for communicating the risks to guide forest professionals and raise awareness of forest owners and citizens.
  4. Workshops/webinars and study visits to countries with similar issues with emerging alien forest pests.

Results achieved 

The ultimate objective was an effective general contingency plan strengthening protection against emerging forest pests in Finland. Support was also used for building networks, changing know-how and ideas during workshops, webinars and study visits with the other EU-members affected or threatened by the same priority forests pests. The project had the expected impact of increasing the resilience of Finnish forests as important carbon sinks and source of economic revenue.

More about the project

You can read the documents related to the project here:

OSZAR »