Twenty Years of Biodiversity Cooperation between Finland and Hunan Province, China
The twenty-year-long biodiversity cooperation between Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland and the Forest Department of Hunan Province, China was celebrated on 29 May 2015 at Finnish Nature Centre Haltia, close to Helsinki, the capital city of Finland.
The celebrations were participated by a high-level ten-member delegation from the Hunan Province. The delegation was headed by Mr. Sun Jinlong, Deputy Secretary, Communist Party of China, Hunan Provincial Committee. The Forest Department of Hunan Province was represented by Mr. Deng Sanlong, Director General and his staff members.
The Finnish host of the celebrations was Dr Rauno Väisänen of Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland. The Hunanese delegation also met Mr Esa Härmälä, Director-General of Metsähallitus.
A video greeting of Mr Zhang Xincheng, President of IUCN, the International Union for Nature Conservation, welcomed “the Finnish–Hunanese cooperation as an exemplary model in the conservation of biodiversity between Western countries and China”. Mr Zhang is the Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Eco-Forum Global.
Worlds Apart, yet Similar in Many Ways
The issues in biodiversity conservation are often similar in different parts of the world. International cooperation offers opportunities to compare practical solutions and best practices and to learn from each other.
The first stages of the Finnish–Hunanese cooperation were made possible by the financing through the EUROPARC Federation Partnership and Exchange Programme. The focus in the Finnish–Hunanese cooperation has been threefold: knowledge and technology, economic welfare, and scientific research.
Within this framework a Biodiversity Action Plan for Hunan Province was published, based on the many-sided inventory work done jointly by Finns and Hunanese. Another concrete result of the Finnish–Hunanese cooperation is the Hunan Forest and Wetland Biodiversity Education Centre in Changsha. The cooperation programme also included staff exchange and training. Nearly one hundred people have been involved in the cooperation programme so far.
By signing an updated Agreement on Nature Conservation Cooperation, the parties secure the future of the Finnish–Hunanese biodiversity cooperation.
A publication “20 Years of Biodiversity Conservation: Institutional Partnership between Metsähallitus of Finland and Forestry Department of Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China” by Dr. Rauno Väisänen was published on 29 May 2015.
Finnish National Parks Welcome More Chinese Tourists
For the growing numbers of Chinese tourists in Finland, the Parks & Wildlife Finland nature tourism project developed the services for Chinese-speaking tourists in Finland. The one-year project focused on the services and marketing of the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia and Nuuksio National Park in Southern Finland as well as Oulanka, Lemmenjoki and Urho Kekkonen National Parks and at the Nature Centre Siida in Northern Finland and Lapland. A Chinese-language website for nature tourists was opened at nationalparks.fi/zh.
Additional Information:
Publication “20 Years of Biodiversity Conservation” (julkaisut.metsa.fi)
Chinese-language information for nature tourists:
Published 29/05/2015
