Description of Forest protection statistics
Compiler: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) since 1 January 2015. Previously these statistics were compiled by the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla).
Statistics home page: Forest protection
Subject matter: Agriculture, forestry and fishing
The statistics form part of the Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Yes
The statistics form part of the European Statistical System (ESS): No
Description
The set of statistics related to forest protection comprises data about statutory protected areas, biodiversity conservation sites in commercial forests, and forests supporting the conservation of nature values in Finland, and the data are presented by region, by soil and protection category, and by area type.
Information content
The statistics provide information about the status of forest protection. Most of the protected forests in Finland are located in nature reserves established under the Nature Conservation Act, areas designated as nature reserves under nature conservation programmes adopted by the Government, and wilderness reserves referred to in the Act on Wilderness Reserves. The primary conservation measures of the Forest Act include preservation of habitats that are of special importance to biodiversity. The protected areas are supported by forests of special areas, in whose management nature values are taken into account.
The statistics comprehensively comprise protected forests owned by the State and the Åland province, and most of protected forest on private land. The statistics comprise statutory protected areas established and areas designated as nature reserves on forestry companies' land and on municipal and church land, and partly also areas whose use in forestry has been restricted by the owner's own decision.
Categories
The statistics are compiled by soil and protection category, by area type, and by region.
Data collection methods, and source of information
The data collection, compilation and classification, are mainly based on a proposal ('Suunnitelma metsien suojelualue- ja METSO-tilastoinnin kehittämiseksi', MMM 2015:2) prepared by METI, a working group for compiling statistics related to forest protection areas and METSO.
The data have been collected from organisations owning and/or managing protected areas and data about them.
Update frequency
The forest protection statistics are updated at about 3-year intervals.
Preparation or publication schedule
The data are compiled from the situation at the beginning of the year.
Time series
The statistics on forest protection have been compiled based on the situation at the beginning of the year and from 2016 the statistics have been based on the same classification prepared by METI working group.
Earlier forest protection statistics have been compiled based on the status at the end of 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008. These statistics are based on the classification prepared by SUTI (2002), a work group for unifying forest protection statistics as regards categories. The statistics from year 2016 are comparable to the earlier statistics, but the old categories are not fully equivalent to the new ones.