Linnunsuo Wetland, North Karelia (Finland)
Originally a boreal marsh-mire, the Linnunsuo wetland was drained during the 1980s and turned into a peat-extraction field by the activity of a bioenergy company. In 2010, local fishermen in the village of Selkie (North Karelia) detected a mass mortality event in the river affecting fish and seagulls. This event raised the first signs of severe environmental degradation, which proved to be affecting the wider watershed. Scientific studies identified the root causes in mud and acidic peat discharge from a mining company. Fishers in collaboration with civil society organisations, such as Snowchange, and local leaders from other villages along the Jukajoki watershed initiated a mobilisation that succeeded in halting peat extraction activities. Following the suspension, the local community tackled the first restoration actions with funding from the peat-extraction company to compensate for the pollution caused by its operations. A first human-made wetland was created to control the discharges.
– The area was transformed into a crucial bird habitat, with 215 species recorded, including some that are rare in the region. Previously degraded areas were restored and turned into a river, now home to a spawning population of critically endangered brown trout.
– The villages have continued their efforts across the Jukajoki watershed, collaborating with landowners, companies, cities, and municipalities, with the aim of achieving full restoration of the basin by 2025. – Peat sediment is now captured by wetlands, and CO2 emissions have been reduced.
– The project was the first initiative of the Landscape Rewilding Programme, which since 2017 has restored a total of 28,000 hectares and 41 sites across Finland, including sites that are home to Indigenous Peoples. – With the support of the Endangered Landscapes and Seacaspes Programme, Snowchange is applying many of these learnings to another area – the Koitajoki Watershed, aiming to restore a total of one thousand hectares.
-Perception of natural resource degradation representing an opportunity to mobilise local communities to restore wetlands
– Importance of formal structures developed by the civil society to channel efforts
– Although compensation measures may not be an ideal solution, they can set an important step towards ecosystem recovery – Outscaling offers the chance to replicate solutions and business models to similar areas
– Mainstreaming local and indigenous knowledge in restoration and conservation planning
☑ Local knowledge of ES
☑ Importance of resource for community
☑ Participatory approach
☑ System productivity
☑ Diversification of funding
☑ Involvement of civil society organisations
☑ Successful pilot testing
☑ Development of governance structures
☑ Favourable policy context
☑ Support of local authorities
☑ Leadership/ entrepreneurship
☑ Direct involvement of private sector
☑ hydrological restoration
☑ morphological restoration
☑ hydro-morphological restoration
☑ water quality improvement
☑ vegetation restoration
☑ removal of invasive alien species
☑ land use change
☑ passive restoration