The protected areas of Finland include
national park
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
s,
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...
s and other areas, with a purpose of conserving areas of all of
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
's
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...
s and
biotope
A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term "habitat", which is more commonly used in English-speaking countr ...
s.
Protected areas include:
*
National parks of Finland
There are 41 national parks in Finland. They are all managed by the Metsähallitus. The national parks cover a total area of – 2.7% of Finland's total land area.
A total of 3.2 million people visited the parks in 2018. During the Covid-19 pan ...
(''Kansallispuisto/Nationalpark'') - 8,170 km²
*
Strict nature reserves of Finland (''Luonnonpuisto/Naturreservat'') - 1,530 km²
*
Mire reserves of Finland (''Soidensuojelualue/Myrskyddsområde'') - 4,490 km²
* Protected herb-rich forest areas (''Lehtojensuojelualue/Lundskyddsområde'') - 13 km²
* Protected
old-growth forest
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
areas (''Vanhat metsät/Gamla skogar'') - 100 km²
* Grey seal protection areas (''Hylkeidensuojelualue/Sälskyddsområde'') - 190 km²
* Other protected areas on state-owned land - 468 km²
The state-owned protected areas cover a total of 14,961 km² while 1,220 km² are on private land.
See also
*
Wilderness reserves of Finland
*
Right of public access to the wilderness
*
Natura 2000
Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respecti ...
External links
Finland's National ParksNational parks, hiking areas, wilderness areas
{{Europe topic, Protected areas of, countries_only=yes, UK_only=no