Nordic Nature Trends Towards 2010

The international target to slow and even halt the decline in biodiversity by the end of 2010 has been included in the Nordic Council of Ministers' Environmental Action Plan for 2009-2012. We already know that this goal will not be reached, in spite of the many actions big and small taken around the Nordic Region to help preserve and protect biodiversity. During the UN International Year of Biodiversity 2010 new goals will be defined and campaigns will be conducted to emphasise the importance of biodiversity to nature and people. The task of conserving biodiversity will also continue after the theme year 2010. The project Nordic nature - trends towards 2010 has presented examples illustrating the threats facing biodiversity together with conservation success stories, and also descriptions of conservation efforts that have not always produced the desired results. These reviews have been published as fact sheets in electronic format on the project's websites in all of the Nordic languages and in English. This publication compiles these published fact sheets, together with a summary of current trends in biodiversity in the Nordic Countries, as part of our region's contribution towards the 2010 biodiversity target and the goal of increasing awareness of the special significance of biodiversity.

The international target to slow and even halt the decline in biodiversity by the end of 2010 has been included in the Nordic Council of Ministers' Environmental Action Plan for 2009-2012. We already know that this goal will not be reached, in spite of the many actions big and small taken around the Nordic Region to help preserve and protect biodiversity. During the UN International Year of Biodiversity 2010 new goals will be defined and campaigns will be conducted to emphasise the importance of biodiversity to nature and people. The task of conserving biodiversity will also continue after the theme year 2010. The project Nordic nature - trends towards 2010 has presented examples illustrating the threats facing biodiversity together with conservation success stories, and also descriptions of conservation efforts that have not always produced the desired results. These reviews have been published as fact sheets in electronic format on the project's websites in all of the Nordic languages and in English. This publication compiles these published fact sheets, together with a summary of current trends in biodiversity in the Nordic Countries, as part of our region's contribution towards the 2010 biodiversity target and the goal of increasing awareness of the special significance of biodiversity.

Natural resource depletion and adverse impacts from environmental degradation, including loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services and their associated knowledge, add to and exacerbate the list of challenges which humanity faces. In order to address these challenges, policy makers need credible and independent information that take into account the complex relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem services and people. To meet these needs the "Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services" (IPBES) was established in 2012. Its purpose is to assess the state of the planet's biodiversity, its ecosystems and essential services they provide for human well-being. This report is the result of an introductory and scoping study, laying the foundation for a Nordic Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services based on IPBES methods and procedures.

We all depend on biodiversity, but we must make biodiversity relevant to people. The long-term loss of nature and biodiversity is, however, not as easily translated into clear messages, let alone economic opportunities, as are measures to tackle climate change. The changes are dispersed, and often act slowly and subtly. Connecting the economic problems and threats people face due to the degradation of our biological resources is also frequently hard to express in facts and figures, as we have seen with the efforts to replicate the review of the economic impacts of climate change. Yet we all see the impact of degradation and loss of biodiversity in our daily lives when we are hiking, fishing, hunting and enjoying nature. We must create a vision and a powerful metaphor, communicated to and understood by ordinary people, that describes our co-existence with and dependence upon nature and how the loss of nature reflects on ourselves as Nordic people and societies. The need to stop the loss of biodiversity does not end in 2010. What will we call upon now? That is our challenge. On 26-27 October 2009, the Nordic Council of Ministers hosted a Nordic symposium on biodiversity in Trondheim, Norway. The title chosen for this symposium was Nordic Biodiversity Beyond 2010 - Challenges and Experiences in Global Perspective. The aim was to take stock of Nordic biodiversity and look beyond 2010. About 70 participants from all the Nordic countries gathered in Trondheim for two days to start this work. They represented public authorities, non-governmental organizations and research institutions concerned with the goal of halting the loss of biodiversity in the Nordic countries. This report contains the results from this symposium as well as conclusions and recommendations for the future.

In the project we show that climate change is not only affecting a few individual species or habitats in the Nordic region, but that number of changes occur concurrently and at many scales.

This report describes the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Nordic region, the drivers and pressures affecting them, interactions and effects on people and society, and options for governance. The main report consists of two volumes. Volume 1 The general overview (this report) and Volume 2 The geographical case studies. This study has been inspired by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES). It departs from case studies (Volume 2, the geographical case studies) from ten geographical areas in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) and the autonomous areas of Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. The aim was to describe status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Nordic region, including the drivers and pressures affecting these ecosystems, the effects on people and society and options for governance. The Nordic study is structured as closely as possible to the framework for the regional assessments currently being finalized within IPBES. The report highlights environmental differences and similarities in the Nordic coastal areas, like the inhabitants´ relation to nature and the environment as well as similarities in social and policy instruments between the Nordic countries. This study provides background material for decision-making and it is shown that Nordic cooperation is of great importance for sustainable coastal management and should be strengthened in future work.

Nature-based tourism (NBT) is a sector where entrepreneurial success is highly knowledge driven. This insightful book offers a comprehensive evaluation of NBT in a Nordic context, highlighting how long-established Nordic traditions of outdoor recreation practices can reveal lessons for the field more broadly. Chapters explore Nordic and international perspectives, local communities, market dynamics, firms, creativity, innovations and value-added experience products.