Despite national and international biodiversity agreements and targets, the share of endangered species among all species assessed in Finland has increased with each assessment round. Already a third of Finland's birds and mosses and a quarter of lichen species are endangered. All traditional biotopes and more than half of the habitat types in Southern Finland have been assessed as endangered.
The city is the largest single nature conservation operator in the Tampere region. Approximately 85 per cent of the nature reserves in the Tampere region are owned by the city.
The city has good opportunities to safeguard habitats and species through urban planning and environmental management. In the protection of species and habitats, the city focuses on the protection of habitats and species that have been taken into account in legislation and defined as endangered in national assessments. The focus of conservation is particularly on those species and habitats whose occurrences are concentrated in Tampere or for which the Tampere region is otherwise important. These have been presented in the regional threat assessment. For example, the endangered populations of the dark web butterfly and the pencil elm are concentrated in the Tampere region.
In addition to establishing nature reserves in accordance with the Nature Conservation Act, conservation measures also include land use planning and taking them into account in the use of areas, active management and habitat restoration. Knowledge-based conservation planning requires up-to-date information on the state of nature and the environment, which is why various surveys are also an important part of the protection of habitats and species.
Other benefits
- Economy: Nature restoration measures are an investment in a better future for both nature and the economy: according to UN estimates, the amount of money spent on restoration will pay for itself 3–75 times over in the form of ecosystem services. However, the anticipated safeguarding of biodiversity is significantly more beneficial to society than the retrospective restoration of degraded ecosystems.
- Health and well-being: Diverse nature exposes humans to many beneficial microbes, which have been found to improve, for example, the immune system and immunity. Biodiversity has also been found to have positive effects on mental well-being.
