FORESTS IN FINLAND,    FORESTS IN EUROPE

Geographically Finland lies in an intermediate zone between maritime and continental climates, belonging for the most part to the boreal vegetation zone. Because Finland is over 1,100 km long on the north-south axis, conditions for forest growth vary considerably between the southern and northern parts of the country.
Forests are Finland’s most significant renewable natural resource. Finland’s forests are managed sustainable. The basic requirement of sustainable forest management is to safeguard the continuity and profitability of wood production while taking into account the biological diversity of forests as well as other forest products and services.
The forest cover in Finland is more extensive than in any other European country. Over 86 % of the land area, some 23 million hectares, is under forests. One hectare is the equivalent of a square, each side having a length of 100 meter. Of the total forestry land in Finland, 71 % is under private ownership (including the Finnish forest industry companies, municipal, parish, shared or have a joint ownership); the Finnish state owns 29 %.

Forest cover in Europe, as percentage of land area (European Forest Institute EFI)

Finnish forest and water landscape (Metla/Erkki Oksanen)

Annual increment of growing stock and growing stock drain (cuttings). Increment of growing stock (1935–2009) and cuttings (1949–2009). (Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla), National Forest Inventory and Forest Statistics Information Service)

Towards the north, the climate gets increasingly colder and more humid. The annual growth period in southern Finland is about five months, and in the north it is three months. The growing stock volume in Finland amounts to 2 206 million cubic meter (m³). One cubic meter is the equivalent of a cube with edges one meter in length, width and height. The average annual increment of growing stock in Finland is about 5 m³/ha/year. The annual increment of the growing stock in Finland is 100 million cubic meter.
Half of the growing stock volume consists of Scots pine, 30 % Norway spruce, and 20 % broadleaves (mainly birch).