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PAST PROJECTS
Natural pastures project 2019-2023
Natural pastures promote biodiversity, starting with soil micro-organisms, insects and plants, creating valuable feeding and habitats for many mammals and birds. Grazing in a natural environment is probably the best example of food production methods that can increase biodiversity. Natural pastures enliven the rural landscape and maintain traditional environments.
When properly designed and implemented, they help to bind carbon and nutrients in the soil, thus contributing to the mitigation of climate change and the nutrient load of water bodies. In addition, they promote the welfare of production animals and create a platform for farmers to commercialise their expertise even better. The project was launched by the Trust in 2019 and was joined by a producer association working on the topic; The Association of Natural Pasture Meat Producers, that will continue to implement the results of the project in practice.
Project JÄRKI – environmental advice for farmers and decision support for policy makers 2009-2018
The project sought and disseminated measures to promote agriculture, water management and biodiversity. JÄRKI Nature and Game started in early 2009 and its second five-year term began in 2014. The project worked at the grassroots level: we met with farmers, advisors, and local and regional officials and identified problems in existing agricultural systems and sought solutions to them.
When grassroot level actors were interviewed, the ideas were communicated to the decision-making level through an influential steering group. JÄRKI brought a new way of thinking to the discussion on water management, biodiversity and the recreational use of rural areas. The JÄRKI project was funded by the Sophie von Julin Foundation, the Louise and Göran Ehrnrooth Foundation, the Ministry of the Environment and the Rural Development Programme.
Game and environmental subsidies project 2011-2018
At the end of 2011, the Nature and Game Management Trust launched a project that combines the multiple benefits of managing agricultural biodiversity. In the first phase of the project, we collected information with the help of expert interviews, research data and practical workers, i.e. landowners, to support agricultural policy decision-making
The project identified the bottlenecks that slow down the feasibility of the measures that have greatest impact on the state of the environment and sought to find solutions to address these with a view to the next CAP period. Some of the solutions were introduced as part of the new Rural Development Programme period 2014–2020. The final report of the project in 2014 presented goals and measures that can be used to improve the diversity of the agricultural environment as cost-effectively as possible, alongside normal farming activities.
Partridge project – biodiversity maintenance
on agricultural land 2007-2017
In 2007 Nature and Game Management Trust Finland started a national Grey Partridge Population Management project. In selected areas hunters and farmers cooperated in partridge management by utilising appropriate agro-environmental schemes and voluntary effort in game management. The project implemented the national Grey Partridge Population Management Plan drafted by the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The long term targets of the project were to support the viability of the present wild population and to re-establish the population all over its earlier range.
A Grey partridge Management Guide for Finland (in Finnish) was published as a book by the Trust (Mykrä & Väänänen, 2008).
