Visiting Finland's Forest & Wetlands
The RIWET EEW4 took place in the coastal city of Vaasa, Finland, from 10–13 June 2025 — where the partners were joined by water and wetland experts, public authorities, and nature-based policy advisors from across Europe.
With a strong focus on practical field visits and collaborative learning, the workshop explored restoration strategies and water protection solutions in real-life settings. The Finnish partner from Etelä-Pohjanmaan ELY-Keskus - the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and Environment for South Ostrobothnia) organized an inspiring series of good practices during the visit. This organisation is responsible for regional implementation of the central government polcies and promotes sustainable development while reducing the impacts of climate change.
Learning on location
During the EEW4 visit, the partners visited various (water related) locations:
🔹Our first stop at Lintuneva shed valuable insights into Finland’s long history with peatland drainage and its recent shift toward restoration. While past drainage efforts improved forestry productivity, they also led to long-term environmental issues such as nutrient loading, brownification of waters, and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Today, Finland is prioritising the rewetting of degraded peatlands—especially those with low forestry value—to reduce emissions, restore biodiversity, and improve water quality. Restoration methods include blocking ditches, and redirecting water flows to dried-out bogs. Supported by national programmes like METSO, HELMI, and EU funds, these efforts are guided by strong stakeholder collaboration and a unique monitoring network. This experience provides a scalable model for nature-based restoration, and in line with the goals of the EU Nature Restoration Law.
🔹At Isokivenneva participants learned about restoration of areas after peat extraction and activation of stakeholders to restoration activities. The most common form of after-use has been agriculture and forestry. Currently, there are many solar power projects underway, but some areas are also being re-wetted. Due to the decline in peat production, various after-use options are topical in Finland.
In Finland, Just Transition Fund (JTF) is used for restoration of peat extraction sites and affected water bodies, and for transformation of peat extraction sites to different options of after-use. In the regions of South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia, an activation project PohjaNeva has been launched with the aim of activating the restoration of peat production areas and the restoration of water bodies polluted by peat production using JTF funding.
🔹The site tours continued to Malax where the consortium learned how river delegations encourage collaboration across entire catchment areas by bringing together municipalities, landowners, authorities, and interest groups to manage water resources collectively.
These delegations help resolve conflicts, coordinate water protection measures, and implement River Basin Management Plans through open dialogue and joint projects.
🔹Day 2 included a stop at Söderfjärden where we witnessed how our Finnish partners are addressing the environmental challenges posed by acid sulfate soils—sulfur-rich coastal soils exposed through drainage, leading to acid and metal runoff that harms water quality and aquatic life. Effective solutions include controlled drainage, sub-irrigation, and the use of dams to maintain higher groundwater levels, reducing acidity, nutrient leaching, and carbon emissions.
Supported by national and EU funding, these voluntary measures require greater landowner engagement to scale up. Finland’s strategy and research-led approach offers transferable insights for other regions around the Baltic Sea facing similar soil issues.
Sharing knowledge, building solutions
In addition to the field visits, the agenda included presentations on river basin district planning, catchment-level collaboration models, and innovative water retention modelling. The event concluded with a practical session where the good practices we visited were topics for discussion. The highly engaged participants exchanged perspectives and experiences, exploring more potential solutions to water protection and management challenges. The lively talks highlighted shared challenges and ignited new ideas.
This kind of collaborative exchange lies at the heart of RIWET’s ambition: to co-develop effective policies and nature-based solutions with social and public stakeholders for the restoration and protection of Europe’s water bodies.
Click here for a 'bird's eye view' of our visit, with thanks to ELY for the great drone images!