Give Back to Nature, Salla

By project NBS4LOCAL

Published on 24 September 2024

Finland

Pohjois- ja Itä-Suomi

Salla

About this good practice

Tourism is one of the biggest business sectors in Lapland. Mitigating the negative impacts of tourism plays an important role in building the future for tourism. In Give back to Nature, Salla, these impacts can be compensated and mitigated.

The campaign collects funds to purchase a natural area of over thirty hectares, consisting e.g. of old forest and a peatland meadow. Parts of the area are also restored through the campaign. The donors are able to target their support to their chosen type of habitat and to keep track the progress of the campaign.

Give back to Nature was created in cooperation by Visit Salla and the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation.

The conserved area is located in Salla by the River Oulankajoki. Some of the coniferous woods of the area are more than 160 years old. There are also different types of peatlands. The area includes many kinds of threatened nature types and important habitats for a range of species, many of whom are vulnerable to the changing climate. Also, the area has been protected against hunting. Conserving the area and restoring parts of it serves climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Some parts of the area have required restoration measures that have been done together with the parties involved in the compensation, creating an opportunity for regenerative tourism activity.

Expert opinion

The Nature Restoration Law is the first continent-wide, comprehensive law of its kind. It is a key element of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, which sets binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters. The regulation combines an overarching restoration objective for the long-term recovery of nature in the EU’s land and sea areas with binding restoration targets for specific habitats and species. These measures should cover at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and ultimately all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. The number of protected areas in the EU should increase to cover 30% of land and 30% of sea surface. This good practice is in line with the EU objectives and it shows a smart way how to mitigate and compensate the negative impacts of tourism industry and finance nature conservation and protection of important ecosystems such as peatlands and old forests.

Magda Michaliková

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

The campaing has been carried out with no monetary investment in cooperation of Visit Salla and Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation. Visit Salla works as a non-profit organization to promote tourism in Salla and to connect the tourism companies and the municipality of Salla.

Evidence of success

The campaign has raised a lot of interest nationally and internationally. The campaign won Skål Europe Sustainability Awards 2024 for community engagement. Requests to present it have brought the campaign team to e.g. the biggest travel fair of Finland and university lectures.

40% of the recources needed to acquire and permanently conserve the area have been collected already, from e.g. local businesses, tourists and tour operators. The campaign is advancing in schedule.

Potential for learning or transfer

The Good Practice can be easily tranferred to any other region in Europe or even globally. It offers a local solution to mitigate and compensate the negative impacts of tourism industry and to simultaneously adapt to climate change by restoring and conserving natural areas to support biodiversity and to offer a variety of ecosystem services.