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Sweden wants Tornio River as part of Natura programme
- By Jorma Korhonen in Tornio
Photo: Jaakko Heikkilä
- Moves are underway to take the entire length of the Tornio River, which
forms the border between Finland and Sweden, into the EU's Natura 2000
programme of nature conservation. If the Swedish initiative comes to
fruition, the Tornio River will be the only large, completely free-flowing
river to be included in the programme, unless the smaller River Ounasjoki, which
flows through Rovaniemi (the capital of Lapland Province), is counted as one.
Natura 2000 does not yet have the kind of northerly river habitat that the
Tornio River would provide.
Local fisherman Jaakko Lauri heads towards Kukkolankoski Rapids. |
- In Sweden, the expansion of Natura 2000 is already on the government's
agenda, and the Tornio River is on the list along with a number of other
areas. A decision is expected this spring.
- The Finnish government only recently established a ministerial working group
to consider the expansion of Natura. First, it would have to
consider whether or not to increase the number of Natura targets, and if
so, would the Tornio River be one of them.
- Parts of the river, including the Karunginjärvi Lake and some islands in
the river that are not the territory of either Finland or Sweden, were on
the Finnish list during the last round of the Natura 2000 project. However, they
were taken off the list because at that time Sweden did not propose the
protection of any parts of the river under Natura 2000. This time, too, no
proposal is expected unless both countries agree on the need for protection.
- All the same, the initiative for protecting the Tornio River is now moving forward in
Sweden. Provincial and municipal authorities in Northern Sweden are in
favour of it. The local authorities in the Tornio River basin believe that
inclusion of the waterway in the programme would be a boost to tourism.
- However, over on the Finnish side, the Natura initiative raises some suspicions.
Many fear that fishing and construction on the banks of the river would be
restricted. Raimo Ronkainen, the Mayor of Tornio, the city on
the Finnish bank of the mouth of the river, expects the ministers and civil
servants involved to give the people detailed information on what the
implications of protection under Natura 2000 would be.
- Matti Kanniainen of Kukkola, north of Tornio takes a very sceptical
view. The local fishermen's organization hold a centuries-old right to
catch whitefish with hand-held long-handled nets at the local rapids, and Kanniainen
wants to make sure that this right is not taken away.
- However, Jussi Soramäki, an official at the Ministry of the Environment
says that this time around officials will be very careful to avoid the gaffes that were
made in the first round, when the civil servants did not give landowners
enough information about the implications of protection of an area under the
Natura programme. The result was a deluge of appeals.
- Last year Sweden made unofficial overtures to the Finnish government that Finland should support the idea of including the Tornio River in the Natura programme.
- Sweden has declared the river a national waterway, whose use for energy
production is not allowed. Finland has not made any such decisions, but
some of the river's tributaries have been protected under the law on the
protection of rapids. The main part of the river has the official status of
a Finnish national landscape, but no specific legal protection.
- Currently the use of the river is regulated by a border treaty between
Finland and Sweden dating back to 1972, which is monitored by a six-person
border river commission.
- Initiatives for a border river treaty go back to the 1950s, when there
were serious plans to harness the river for the production of electricity.
During the nearly 20 years that followed, interest in the construction of
more hydroelectric power decreased. The treaty that was signed says nothing
about the construction of hydroelectric plants, but it does impose strict
environmental obligations.
- The Tornio River is the most important breeding area for salmon in the
Baltic Sea. More than half of all salmon in the Baltic are hatched in the
Tornio River and its tributaries.
Nature and Environment, from Virtual Finland
A Picture Book of Finland from the same source - no Tornio River in the selection as far as I could see, but at least you can take a 2-minute hot-air balloon ride over the country with a male voice choir on board (requires RealPlayer and a head for heights).
The Kukkolankoski Rapids on the Tornio River, the longest free-flowing rapids in Finland at 3,500 metres.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 18.3.2000 |
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