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Project
within the framework of the TACIS SPF Programme
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES:
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY LAND USE
AS A PREREQUISITE OF SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Regional
Council of Päjät-Häme (Finland),
Administration
of Municipal Formation “Gatchina district”,
Baltic Fund for Nature
Contract No:
2005/100-727
Project newsletter (.pdf)
The
project is funded by the European Union within
the framework of its TACIS Programme
EuropeAide
Co-operation Office programmes and projects
The
project is implemented under co-operation agreement between Regional
Council of Päjät-Häme and Baltic Fund for Nature
Project manager: Lahti
Science and Business Park Ltd
Project
co-ordinators:
Erkki Rope (Regional
Council of Päjät-Häme)
Dr. Sergey Resvyi (BFN)
Project
inplementation period: June 2005 - November 2006
 The project aims are fostering regional integration of
the border proximity areas in the Eastern Baltic with special focus on
knowledge-based policy making in sustainable management of semi-natural
landscapes. Specific objective is to develop on the basis of EU partner’s
experience environmentally friendly land use system maintaining biodiversity
that is adjusted to the needs of Leningrad
region. Current land use practices affect the proximity regions. Lack of
information on biodiversity hinders efforts to maintain sustainable rural
development. Thus joint efforts are needed to create a basis for joint regional
policies and criteria recognized by the authorities of partner’s regions.
Project objectives will be achieved through field surveys; adjusting of the EU
best practices in environmentally friendly land use to the Leningrad region
conditions; study tours; development of database, GIS tool and monitoring of
biodiversity. Target groups: regional and district planners; committees on land
use, natural resources and environment (direct); land-owners, local
communities, environmental NGOs (indirect)
The project overall objective
is: to support regional integration in the Eastern Baltic and to complement to
harmonization of sustainable land use practices of EU (Finland) and Russia; to
ensure preservation of natural values through promoting rural sustainable
development that will benefit for both environment and diversification of local
economies.
Specific objectives are:
To develop and implement a pilot project for
Gatchina district (Leningrad region,Russia) environmental and
agricultural authorities and planners adjusting Finnish experience of
sustainable land use to Leningrad region environment. The GIS-based tool for land use and monitoring
biodiversity will be developed and tested as an outcome of existing
agricultural data analysis and complex field surveys. Developed initially as a
tool for monitoring and preserving plant and animal diversity (that is the
indicator of the land use sustainability), the geo informational system will be
further available for planning of various types of socio-economic activities of
the district (including nature friendly tourism and recreation). The project
will serve as a model for further dissemination of the lessons learned and
developed tools to other districts of theLeningrad region. The
project is planned to be implemented in Gatchina district of the Leningrad
region because the region is characterized by the wide variety of agricultural
landscapes including various ways of land use practices that have been
documented and monitored over long period of time by the local Land use committee.
In the same time, the district is rich in terms of biological diversity and
bird fauna in particular. Overall policies of theLeningrad region government
towards interregional integration, nature conservation and introduction of new
and sustainable ways of rural development will be practically supported by the
initiative performed in the Gatchina district and further used as a model for
other districts in the region. The project is also aimed to reveal main factors
affecting biodiversity of agricultural landscapes (distribution and well
being of birds and animals as well as rare plant populations dependant on the
semi-agricultural areas). Recommendations will be developed on the positive
feedback between landowners, agricultural landscapes and biodiversity.
GIS-based database, filled up and developed during the project will allow the
use of collected data in the complex planning and analyzing of the methods of
ecologically friendly land use, and will also help to support the development
of alternative economic sectors in the region (e.g. ecological tourism and
recreation). Furthermore the updated database will serve as a tool for
improving decision-making process and district self-management. The data will
be based on the complex and comprehensive analysis of ways, methods and
efficiency of land use, agricultural landscapes these lands form, and the ways
the landscapes are combined with neighboring natural landscapes, and also flora
and fauna objects, dependant on the resulting temporal and spatial habitat
structure. An important aim of the project is also to establish
international cooperation and knowledge exchange in ecologically friendly
land use experience and nature conservation between two border proximity
regions of Russia and Finland.
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