A broad green belt being planned in Greater Helsinki area

Proposed network of protected recreational areas could serve as the lungs for the entire metropolitan region

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By Ismo Tuormaa
     
      A project for the establishment of a green belt covering about 100 square kilometres and surrounding the Greater Helsinki area is being called for.
      In this way the burden caused for example by hikers could be spread more evenly on the green areas than before.
      The proposed unique network of protected recreational areas could serve as the lungs for the entire metropolitan area, with the capital being the heart, Espoo being the brain, and Vantaa being the vascular system of the metropolis.
     
The planned green zone would comprise dozens of existing conservation and recreational areas. The area is constantly being reinforced, as all municipalities have made far-reaching plans for conservation and recreation areas.
      Currently, the network of green areas stretches from sea to sea, from Kirkkonummi and Siuntio through Vihti, Espoo, Vantaa, and Helsinki, to Sipoo and Porvoo.
     
The total area already exceeds 20,000 hectares - and even more depending on the way of calculation. Naturally, all decisions are made separately.
      The project is being strongly lobbied by Metsähallitus, the state enterprise that provides natural resources sector services to a diverse customer base.
     
In order to launch the project, joint maintenance and utilization plans should be made, as it is necessary to even out and channel the increasing numbers of hikers and campers, particularly at present, as the new residential area to be built in Espoo’s Hista district is bound to increase the annual number of visits to the Nuuksio National Park in Espoo by more than 300,000.
      According to the official records, the present number of visits to Nuuksio is some 175,000 annually.
     
”The idea of a green zone is good, if it helps to persuade people to move more easily in the neighbouring areas than they do today. For example, citizens from the eastern parts of Helsinki and Vantaa could more often than previously head for Sipoonkorpi, a wide forest area northeast of Helsinki, instead of always going to Nuuksio, which is today suffering from really great pressures”, says hiking entrepreneur Pekka Väänänen, operating in Nuuksio.
     
If the proposed green zone had joint maintenance and utilization plans, the division of work between the areas could be determined with respect to camping, hiking, and tourism, say Area Manager Erkki Virolainen and Park Superintendent Tiina Niikkonen from Metsähallitus.
      ”On the other hand we could think of certain areas that could be preserved as quiet and untouched, as so-called remote zones”, they suggest.
     
As far as hikers are concerned, the proposed cooperation would mean that instead of hiking in Nuuksio, city people could engage in extensive several days’ hiking trips along marked routes in the green zone, says Sami Halén, in charge of physical training at the Oittaa Recreation Centre run by the Finnish skiing organisation Suomen Latu.
      ”I myself would be ready for a 7-day skiing trip in the green zone right away”, Halén declares.
      At present, hardly any information about the region’s diverse excursion possibilities is available.
      ”If an ordinary family wanted to know now where they could grill sausages over a campfire in Espoo, it is not possible to answer the question without plenty of advance local knowledge”, Halen argues.
     
The idea about such a green zone emerged at Metsähallitus already in 2003.
      ”The philosophy of a green zone is naturally based on the fact that a major part of Finns are nowadays moving to the Greater Helsinki area, and as a counterbalance to the growing pressure caused by visitors to certain green areas, there should be a kind of buffer zone around Helsinki to secure the area’s nature conservation and recreation reqirements”, reports Senior Planning Officer Hannu Ormio from Metsähallitus.
     
Ormio points out that the size of the state-owned protected areas alone - nearly 100 square kilometres - to be located within the proposed green zone is a fairly large swath of land.
      ”Not many other European states can boast such a large and fine conservation & recreational area surrounding the capital”, notes Ormio.
      When it comes to recreational utilisation, the state-owned protected areas are significant particularly in the metropolitan area, which is why the local municipalities should take a share in the costs of the related recreational services, Ornio argues.
     
The required funding could be based on a system in which a kind of administrative organ would take care of the recreational services both in the municipalities’ protected and recreational areas and in the state-owned conservation area.
      Ormio envisages that in 10 to 20 years' time all the larger protection areas in the green zone would be linked together to form a National Park or a World Heritage Park surrounding the capital.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.6.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nuuksio National Park to provide Nature Centre for visitors (16.2.2009)

See also:
  Helsinki is urban but teeming with wildlife (1.6.2004)

Links:
  Metsähallitus
  Natura 2000 (Wikipedia)
  Nuuksio National Park (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat