Ekosysteemipalveluiden ja luonnon monimuotoisuuden riippuvuus vihreästä infrastruktuurista ja ohjausjärjestelmän muutostarpeet

Green infrastructure is on the rise as a policy concept, aimed to influence the formation of land use and environmental policy so that the fragmentation of connected natural environments is prevented and biodiversity that maintains the ecosystem services important for the economy and society is preserved. The key content of the concept can be summarized as the idea of environment as an infrastructure resource capable of producing various kinds of benefits and services simultaneously.
This report provides research information on what green infrastructure means in different contexts, how it has been used as a tool for promoting public policies, how the status and trends of green infrastructure can be assessed and surveyed from the perspective of biodiversity, connectivity and supply of ecosystem services, and what are the factors that impact on its formation. The report also presents recommendations for developing the current regulation in a way that green infrastructure can be preserved and enhanced.
In Finland, unlike in certain other EU Member States, green infrastructure as a concept has not yet been incorporated into the national policy instruments. In practice, however, there is a whole lot of regulatory tools for nature protection, land use and utilization of natural resources that are relevant in terms of green infrastructure. On one hand, green infrastructure policy could be implemented by making more efficient and systematic use of the available instruments, such as land use planning. However, this requires increased exchange of information and dialogue between authorities, strengthening the knowledge base, and development of the monitoring systems.
On the other hand, at the moment there are no policy tools in Finland that would enable systematic and comprehensive action to preserve and enhance green infrastructure. The regulation that is relevant in terms of the maintenance, protection and creation of green infrastructure is composed of a broad spectrum of individual, sector-specific regulatory instruments.
Therefore , it could be useful to start developing a new kind of planning model that would enable the implementation of a systematic and comprehensive green infrastructure policy. The model proposed in the report could serve as the basis for developing the plan. This planning model could first be experimented on a voluntary basis, followed by an assessment of the need to create a legislative framework for this. The purpose of the experimenting phase would be to find a model suitable for Finland that would serve as the basis for regional planning on green infrastructure.
In the end legislative changes would be needed to ensure the efficient implementation of the plans. The financial instruments should also be developed because the current instruments have proven insufficient for activities such as restoration projects. This could be done by steering the current funding in new ways or by creating new financial instruments.