Nature wins the most in nature values trading but all parties stand to benefit

The transaction concerning nature values agreed between a private landowner and the retail and service company Pohjois-Karjalan Osuuskauppa is among the first ones in Finland. The surface area of the site concerned, the Kuikkasuo mire, is about 12 hectares, and it will be restored to a state that is as close to natural as possible.

Through nature values trading, a landowner receives market-based income from conservation and the generation of nature values and companies can take concrete measures for sustainability. On the site North Karelia, the measures to restore a drained mire to the natural state include removing trees and blocking ditches. The restoration measures got started in the beginning of March.

“I have heard stories of how clear the water in Lake Eteläinen Pitkäjärvi was before the drainage operations in the 1970s, which were quite unnecessary. Now I believe that, thanks to the nature values trading agreement with Pohjois-Karjalan Osuuskauppa, the mire can be restored to its natural state so that, in future, we can again hear birds singing by a clear water lake, and future generations can pick cloudberries there,” the landowner Petri Purmonen says. 

Purmonen’s concern about the darkening of waters below the mire and loss of cloudberries was successfully combined with the perception of Pohjois-Karjalan Osuuskauppa that “a quarter means a quarter of a century”. The cross-generational benefits to be gained from the local project with measurable results will stay within the region.

Cooperation to develop nature values market

The historical transaction was based on the wish shared by the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK, S Group, Pohjois-Karjalan Osuuskauppa and landowners to join forces and further develop nature values trading. The transaction serves as a good example of voluntary market operations between landowners and private buyers. 

The site to be restored in Ilomantsi is a mire with a surface area of 12 hectares. The agent for the transaction was the North Karelia Forest Management Association which, together with the landowner, was also responsible for surveying the site and planning the measures. In recent years regional forest management associations have made significant efforts to develop nature management services in different parts of Finland. 

In nature values trading the ownership of the land does not change hands. The price paid to the landowner for the transaction in North Karelia is some tens of thousands of euros. The process differs from that in nature conservation by means of state aid in that, in market-driven nature values trading, the landowner can keep the financial benefit from the growing stock. 
“Pohjois-Karjalan Osuuskauppa expressed its interest in nature values trading, and we started to map out possible sites for this. The site in Ilomantsi is very well suited for piloting the trading. Work on the site is well under way,” says Harri Välimäki, Director of the North Karelia Forest Management Association. 

S Group wishes to produce 500 nature value hectares through restoration by 2035. The site in North Karelia contributes towards reaching this target.

Halting biodiversity loss requires commitment from society as a whole. In our series of articles, we present the nature values market and cases where ecological compensation has been used from the perspective of different stakeholders. Through ecological compensation, adverse impacts on biodiversity caused by human action in a certain area are offset by enhancing biodiversity in another area. Nature values market is a new and evolving means for channelling private funding to the work for biodiversity.
 
Text: Sirpa Mustonen
Photo: Jarno Artika / PKO