pdf Introducing the project: Finnish protected area network in a changing climate (SUMI) Popular

Saija Kuusela
Finnish Environment Institute

Aapala, Kaisu, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Aalto, Juha, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Heikkinen, Risto, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Leikola, Niko, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Pöyry, Juha, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Virkkala, Raimo, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland

Climate change is projected to cause negative impacts on species, ecosystems and the services they provide. Traditional static nature conservation should be complemented with climate-wise conservation planning, so that the dynamic changes in species distributions and assemblages will be properly taken into account. The SUMI project (2017–2019) will provide an in-depth assessment of the effectiveness and adaptive capacity of Finnish protected area (PA) network in protecting biodiversity and supporting key ecosystem services under the growing pressures of climate change and land use. The project addresses several Arctic Biodiversity Assessment recommendations, especially 13 and 16, and focuses on four work packages: the vulnerability of species to climate change (i.e. species exposure, adaptive capacity and sensitivity to climate change, WP1), the effects of climate change on habitat types and ecosystems (especially boreal forests, peatlands and alpine biotopes, WP2), the role of biogeophysical characteristics of PAs in mitigating the impacts of climate change (fine-scale velocity of the climate change, local climatic variability and refugia, WP3) and the role of PAs in carbon sequestration and storage (WP4). This poster presents the scope and aims of the project, and selected key methods employed in assessing the representativeness of Finnish PA network under climate change.