European sustainable development rural actor database

Administrative organization

Form of State: unitary State.
Legislative power rests exclusively with central government, except for cases where it is shared with the autonomous province of Åland. The State has general administrative powers in areas of national sovereignty: justice, foreign affairs, national defence and finance. In other fields, the central government shares it administrative powers with local authorities, and has its competencies strictly limited in the area of local administration.
Interesting ministries:

• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Minister: Mrs Sirkka-Liisa Anttila. We can note a department involved in “Rural territories and natural resources”, with a Unit for land survey and rural construction; and a department involved in “Agriculture”, with a Rural development Unit.
• Ministry of the Environment. Minister: Mrs Paula Lehtomäki. The originality of this Ministry is to be working together with the Ministry of Housing (Minister: M. Jan Vapaavuori). 3 interesting departments, entitled « Environmental protection », Land use », and « Housing and building».

Total public expenditure: € 78.9 billions = 50.1% GDP.
Sub-national public expenditure: € 31 billions = 19.7% GDP = 39.3% total public expenditure.

Rural life

Utilized agricultural area: 6.7% total area, i.e. 22,655 km2.
Rural population: 38.9% total population.
Labour force in agriculture: 96,000 Annual Work Units (AWU).
Unemployment rate by degree of urbanisation:

• Densely populated areas: 7.5%
• Intermediate areas: 9.0%
• Thinly populated areas: 8.8%

Employment rate by degree of urbanisation:

• Densely populated areas: 72%
• Intermediate areas: 68%
• Thinly populated areas: 66.6%

Youth unemployment ratio by degree of urbanisation:

• Densely populated areas: 9.4%
• Intermediate areas: 11.2%
• Thinly populated areas: 10.3%
• Total: 10.2%

Share of organic area in total utilised agricultural area: 6.5%.

Sustainability

The Finnish Sustainable Development Strategy comes from a long national tradition. Indeed, the first document outlining the issue of sustainable development in Finland was presented to the Parliament in 1990 (“Sustainable Development and Finland”). The first Commission drew up a national action programme in 1995, called “Finnish Action for Sustainable Development”. The strategy work culminated in the adoption of the Finnish Government’s Programme for Sustainable Development (or Council of State Decision-in-Principle on the Promotion of Ecological Sustainability) in 1998. This programme was since then evaluated (in 2000-2002) and renewed.
The programme is designed to promote ecological sustainability and the economic and social and cultural preconditions for achieving this end. It defines the strategic objectives and lines of action for key sectors of sustainable development. The sectors are:

• Finland’s role in international co-operation
• Products, production and consumption
• Energy economy
• Regional structure, urban structure and transport
• Rural areas and use of renewable resources
• Research and education

The challenges of sustainable development in Finland are listed under six headings, from which social, economic, and environmental objectives may be identified. The six main points embrace:

• Employment, Production, Competitiveness
• Environmental Pollution – conservation and use of natural resources
• Regional and community structure – transport and mobility
• Health and security – full citizenship
• Joint responsibility and corporate social responsibility
• Innovation and education

On the local level, over 250 municipalities with over 80 percent of the Finnish population have started the local Agenda 21 process.
Furthermore, Finland is part of the Baltic Local Agenda 21 Forum (BLA21F, a network of local level actors) together with Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.
Environmental protection expenditure in the public sector: 0.4 % of GDP, i.e. 96 € per capita.
Government expenditure on environment protection, in % of GDP: 0.3%.
Government expenditure on environment protection, in % of total government expenditure: 0.7%.
Area protected under the Habitats Directive as a percentage of total area: 12.7%.