Objective
The main target of this project is to protect and regenerate habitats and integrate recreation with conservation, in parallel to an ERDF-funded programme to develop heritage tourism (renovation of historic sites, jetties for boats). On the conservation side, the LIFE project will clear abandoned shore meadows of shrubbery, revitalize heathland by controlled burning and raise water levels in drained lakes. Besides voluntary agreements on land use, one-off compensations will be paid to landowners in exchange for permanent non-exploitation of resources.
On the socio-economic side, one objective is to agree on a management plan for land use. The various interest groups affected will be closely involved through advisory committees and the project steering committee. Tourism organizations in particular will be consulted and the project will support responsible nature tourism by investing in trails and observation platforms. It intends to liaise with the 1995 LIFE project in Liminganlahti, where problems and strategies are not dissimilar.
Crushed by massive ice caps which only melted less than ten thousand years ago, the Earth's crust in the Gulf of Bothnia is still rising back to its equilibrium level (isostatic uplift). In the Rahja area the uplift is the fastest in Fennoscandia (about 9 mm/year), creating a very ragged archipelago with numerous small islands and, as the sea recedes, a succession of very specific habitat types: fladas and kluuvi lakes, broad shortgrass shore meadows, coastal forests of the primary succession stages of land uplift, bog woodlands and inland boreal forests, all together 18 different habitats of Community interest. There is a human heritage too: the islands contain five traditional fishing settlements and many historic buildings.
The shore meadows, long preserved against succession by their use as grazing lands (the islands' agricultural heritage sites), are under threat as farming is abandoned. The forests are affected by logging and the flada/kluuvi habitats by drainage. Although Rahja is still one of the least built-up coastal areas in Finland, holiday homes are a problem, especially as their number may nearly double in the coming years. Construction of yacht anchorages and access channels through the offshore mudflats, in response to rising visitor interest, is disturbing the littoral zones.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
67100 Kokkola
Finland