NATURA 2000 AS A PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT
PROBLEM
Mikael Hildén
Finnish Environment Institute
The Natura 2000 network planning in Finland has in various
contexts been characterised as a catastrophe, a diversion from the principles
of the habitat and bird directives and an attack against landowners. These
statements obviously show that the planning ran into severe difficulties.
The more interesting question is why these difficulties arose and how at
least some of them could have been avoided. The paper examines these questions
in the light of an assessment that examined nature conservancy aspects
of the network and the submissions that were made on the proposed network.
The results suggest that a significant part of the difficulties arose because
responsible authorities approached the planning task as a technical inventory
issue when in fact it was a negotiation issue. Real and perceived legal
implications of the network planning were effectively forgotten although
the Natura 2000 network was given a detailed interpretation in the new
Nature Protection Act. The observation that the planning was largely a
negotiation task also has implications for the assessment of the plan.
The assessment should be part of a communicative process and not only a
listing of facts.
REFERENDUM MODEL OF CONTINGENT VALUATION
AND THE NATURA 2000 CONSERVATION PROGRAM
Eija Pouta, Mika Rekola
University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Economics
This paper analyzes preferences of Finnish households
for a nature conservation program Natura 2000. The aim of this study is
to value the benefits of Natura 2000 applying dichotomous choice referendum
models of contingent valuation. In order to study the influence of attitudes
and beliefs toward the nature conservation program, attitude-behavior framework
is applied by asking several questions about beliefs concerning outcomes
of nature conservation policy and evaluations of their importance. The
choice in referendum between status quo and conservation project are explained
with logit regression model and are found to be a function of socioeconomic
and attitude variables. The probability to support the proposed conservation
level correlates significantly with income level, urban-rural background
and age of the respondent. The estimated model of choice behavior is used
to calculate average willingness to pays for Natura 2000 nature conservation
program. Beliefs about outcomes of program differed significantly between
supporters and opponents of Natura 2000.
THE ECONOMIC COSTS OF FOREST PRESERVATION
IN THE NATURA 2000 PROGRAMME
Lauri Valsta
Finnish Forest Research Institute
An environmental impact assessment of the Finnish proposal
to the European Union nature protection Natura 2000 Network was compiled
for the needs of political decision making. The assessment covered nature
conservation, forestry costs and budgetary effects. The forestry costs
were estimated for areas planned to be protected by the Nature Protection
Act. The present value of net timber revenues was taken as the cost. Due
to great limitations in data available, the cost estimate is given as two
figures: a lower and an upper bound. The lower bound is based on the assumption
that the value of forests in Natura network equals the average of each
region. The upper estimate assumes that the forests comprise of typical
mature forest stands of the region. The lower and upper estimates of costs
amounted to 0.17 % and 0.56 %, respectively, of the total stumpage revenues
in Finland. The impacts on timber supply and employment are negligible
at the national level. The funds of compensation for private landowners
planned by the Finnish environment administration are only a little greater
than the lower estimate for the private costs and, in some regions, fall
below that.
 
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