Since
the beginning of the 1990's the idea of the ecological uniqueness
of the forests at the Finnish-Russian state border has been presented
on several occasions, increasingly, also by wide sections in both
societies and in the international community. The idea emerged originally
in a form that emphasized only the forests on the Russian side of
the border. Forests which had been left outside intensive, modern
forest management practices, mainly because of the Cold War and the
consequent low economic activities at the border zone. While it is
true that the ecologically most important areas can be found on the
eastern side of the border it has been recently noticed how the most
valuable of the Finnish old-growth forest areas are also situated
at the same border. Together they form the Green Belt of Fennoscandia
- reaching from the Gulf of Finland in the south to the Arctic Ocean
in the north.
The
Green Belt crosses all three boreal main zones: the southern, middle
and northern boreal vegetation zones. This fact makes it possible
to sustain evolutional and distributional dynamics - the elementary
parts of biological diversity - on an exceptional scale. It is a crucial
feature in terms of the changes that will take place due to the inescapable
climate change as well. The warming climate will cause the vegetational
zones to move northwards. The flora and fauna will try to adjust accordingly.
It is reasonable to claim that in fragmented landscapes the adjustment
can prove to be an impossible task for a large group of species.
Many
studies have confirmed that even in the shorter-term small fragmented
conservation areas are not capable of maintaining many of the endangered
species. Larger unified areas should be set aside for conservation
purposes. In the Finnish context the Green Belt has received special
attention. The Belt can be seen as the major source of population
maintenance and species diversity on which our smaller areas are dependent
on, as they cannot maintain their own regeneration processes to a
full extent. (see e.g. Safeguarding...1994, Virkkala 1996)
It
should also be recognized that, Fennoscandia in itself forms a unique
environment on a global scale. The warming impact of the Gulf-stream,
the short history of evolution after the last ice age, the natural
features attached to Fennoscandian bed rock and the oceanic climatic
features distinquish this area as a spesific area with its own special
character, the like of which cannot be found elsewhere in the world.
(see e.g. Committee reports 1991, 1995, Safeguarding...1994) When
it is taken into account, in addition, that also ever larger areas
of boreal (taiga) forests east of Fennoscandia are now taken into
commercial use, it is reasonable to view our area from an evolutional
standpoint as an island - as separated from the main taiga forest
continent.
The
introductory part of the Red Book of Finland (Committee report 1991,11)
states that a differentiation of species is taking place under the
special Fennoscandian conditions and that after a (quite a) while
separate new endemic species would eventually emerge. It is stated
that this will happen, however, only on the condition that the species
aren't destroyed before the process has reached that stage.
The
Green Belt is also the westernmost point for many species whose main
distribution areas are further in the east. It also sustains the largest
populations of many species which used to be more abundant further
south before the era of intensive human impact. It can be concluded
that an evolutionally exceptionally young area is facing an era where
its diversity resource base is more and more concentrated in a few
areas - most of all in the Green Belt. This has been caused by intensive
management and fragmentation covering the most of the area.
Forestry
represents the greatest threat to the majority of endangered species
in Finland. Out of almost 1700 species listed as endangered close
to 50 per cent are forest species. Roughly one half of them are directly
dependent on old-growth forests which exist nowadays mainly as isolated
small fragments surrounded by landscapes modified by modern intensive
forestry. (see e.g. Committee reports 1991, 1995 and Safeguarding...1994)
Estimates about the amount of remaining old-growth forests vary from
two to five per cent of the total forest area at most.
Several
scientists have put forth claims according to which it is uncertain
whether a considerable amount of our species will survive at all in
those isolated fragments, which offer the only suitable habitats for
these species. As a matter in fact, there is a certain time lag which
separates the long-term impact of forestry from the current visible
changes. One talks about the "extinction debt" - the idea
that the total costs of fragmentation and habitat destruction will
be payed by future generations. (see e.g. Virkkala 1996.) Already
now the wide-scale disappearance of old-growh forests in the southern
part of Finland, due to intensive forestry, has meant -in addition
to dozens of species having disappeared from the area - that several
hundred, possibly over a thousand species have faced a significant
impoverishment of their genetic diversity (Safeguarding... 1994, 28).
It
has been noticed during the last few years when the remaining old-growth
forests have been surveyed in Finland, that the largest areas of old
forests are in most cases also the ones which have the lowest level
of human impact throughout the human history of the region. They are
mainly situated along the main watershed between the Arctic Ocean
and the Baltic Sea, which in the middle and northern boreal zones
runs along the Finnish-Russian state border to a significant extent
. Watershed areas with their tiny, upper head waters were due to difficulties
in timber floating the last areas to be used for selective cuttings
of the earlier logging history.
Relative
remoteness has also meant a much lower impact of slash-and-burn agriculture
as well as tar and charcoal production, all of which have had a strong
impact on forest structures in most parts of Fennoscandia. Several
studies have found that some of the areas on the watershed can be
classified as totally intact by any kind of logging practices. (see
e.g. Pyykkö 1996, Safeguarding...1994)