Development of strategic biodiversity offsetting continued in Orivesi

Boost’s work to develop an operational model for strategic biodiversity offsetting for regional and local planning took a step forward on May 27, 2025, at a workshop held at the Orivesi Adult Education Center. At the second meeting of the expert group, the operational model for strategic offsetting was specified and the following key steps for its further development were identified. The discussions focused on the role of regional councils and future vitality centers, among other things, and identified the need for meetings between actors at the regional level.

The work with the expert group will continue in the fall. The end result will be a proposal on how biodiversity offsetting tools should be used in regional planning so that the planning of offsetting and the location of offsetting areas would produce the greatest possible benefits for nature. In addition to researchers, the group includes a diverse group of experts from regional councils (Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme), cities (Tampere, Helsinki, Espoo, Lahti), ELY centers (Pirkanmaa, Varsinais-Suomi), the Ministry of the Environment, the MAL network, Ramboll, and the Finnish Forest Association.

The meeting in Orivesi was part of a series of workshops organized by Boost to discuss different aspects of strategic biodiversity offsetting:

• Workshop 1: Mitigation hierarchy. How is the mitigation hierarchy currently implemented in regional planning? What are the challenges and obstacles to strategic biodiversity offsetting planning?
• Workshop 2: New practices and operating models. What practices and operating models need to be created to strengthen the mitigation hierarchy in regional planning? What kind of information is required for ecologically sound, administratively viable, and socially acceptable strategic biodiversity offsetting planning?
• Workshop 3: Generating biodiversity offsets and offset targets on private land. How can the role of private landowners in strategic biodiversity offsetting planning be strengthened? What constitutes fair offsetting planning?
• Workshop 4: Designing and implementing an operating model. Which actors are key to implementing the operating model? Where and how can the operating model be put into practice?
  
  

At the end of the work, a report will be published describing the operating model for implementing strategic biodiversity offsetting in regional land use planning; recommendations for support for private landowners; and scientific articles on the working methods, land ownership issues, fairness considerations, and planning solutions.

News 30.5.2025