News Archive

Projects IntellGreenBelt (“Intellectually driven management of natural resources of Green Belt of Fennoscandia”) and Karlands (”Integrated landscape planning for sustainable use of natural resources and maintaining biodiversity”) joint efforts in their organizing closing events. The rationale was to offer a platform for presenting and discussing the results of the project involving as many stakeholders on both sides of the border as possible. On November 26 the seminar was held in Petrozavodsk, Russia and on November 28 – in Joensuu, Finland. In addition, experts of the project MultiEffort (“Multiple eco-friendly forest use: Restoring Tradition”) were also invited to take part. All the three projects are implemented within the Karelia Cross-border Cooperation Programme (ENPI CBC Karelia). The projects are implemented by partners from Russia and Finland.

The objective of the IntellGreenBelt project is to contribute to socio-economic development of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia by creating the system of sustainable use and augmented reproduction of natural resources (hunting, fishing, PA-based tourism, recreation, etc.). The Karlands project is designed to foster good governance of landscapes along the Russian-Finnish border. The MultiEffort project aims to maintain and enhance sustainable ecosystem services in pilot areas relying on landscape ecological planning and to promote multipurpose forest use in the economic settings.

A number of presentations on the progress of the projects were made at the seminars. IntellGreenBelt project experts told about the results achieved in the main work packages with a focus on their potential applications: zoning and conservation regimens, sustainable game and fisheries management, development of scientific excursions and learning tourism. The audience was also informed about the progress of small infrastructure-building in the Muezersky District within the project. The speakers representing the Karlands told about the database and GIS produced by the project, landscape values, and value chains. Members of the Multieffort project team demonstrated the results of conservation-related activities in operating and planned protected areas. The results of the analysis of ecosystem services in different parts of Karelia were also reported.

Representatives of research and educational institutions, relevant ministries and departments, municipalities and NGOs took part in the seminars. In conclusion, the participants of both seminars evaluated the solutions produced within the projects and discussed the potential for further cooperation and advancement of the issues.

More information about the projects can be found at the project IntellGreenBelt site, the project Karlands site, the site of the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla).