The Forest Joen­suu network con­vinced the guests from USA and Cana­da

Joen­suu and North Kare­lia got to show their ver­sa­ti­le fore­stry exper­ti­se when Busi­ness Fin­land and its part­ners brought guests from Cana­da and the Uni­ted Sta­tes to the pro­vince. Seve­ral des­ti­na­tions from dif­fe­rent parts of Fin­land were visi­ted during the trip, which las­ted about a week.

In the North Kare­lia region, the pro­gram inclu­ded a visit to the Val­ti­mo forest mac­hi­ne trai­ning school and Koli Natio­nal Park. In addi­tion, the group obser­ved the har­ves­ting of ener­gy trees and heard about the basics of Fin­nish forest mana­ge­ment on a forest walk.

The Joen­suu region is num­ber one in Euro­pe in terms of fore­stry know-how, research, tech­no­lo­gies and industry.

– The pro­gram focuses especial­ly on the mana­ge­ment and uti­liza­tion of forests and wood-based pro­ducts. Seve­ral local fore­stry com­pa­nies will also pre­sent them­sel­ves during the visit, says Ris­to Huh­ta-Koi­vis­to from Busi­ness Fin­land.

The group’s goal is to col­lect best prac­tices from forest mana­ge­ment and fore­stry, but also from sus­tai­na­bi­li­ty and bio­di­ver­si­ty. Joen­suu was selec­ted as a des­ti­na­tion especial­ly due to its strong and ver­sa­ti­le exper­ti­se.

– We belie­ve that this is whe­re the visi­tors get the best infor­ma­tion about seve­ral dif­fe­rent topics. The Joen­suu region is num­ber one in Euro­pe in terms of fore­stry know-how, research, tech­no­lo­gies and industry, Huh­ta-Koi­vis­to sta­tes.

Ideas for trai­ning experts

Cana­dian Geoff M. Clar­ke leads sus­tai­nable and eco­no­mic deve­lop­ment proces­ses at the Port Haw­kes­bu­ry paper mill in Nova Sco­tia. He says that he last visi­ted Fin­land ten years ago.

– This trip has been a great upda­te on the cur­rent sta­te of fore­stry in Fin­land. I wan­ted to see whe­re we are going with com­pa­nies, research, educa­tion and RDI acti­vi­ties. I have gai­ned a lot of new infor­ma­tion about how to res­pond to the cur­rent megat­rends in forest bio­eco­no­my, Clar­ke sta­tes.

Clar­ke thanks the orga­nizers for a success­ful tra­vel pro­gram. He is par­ticu­lar­ly impres­sed by the acti­vi­ties of Val­ti­mo forest mac­hi­ne trai­ning school to meet the labor needs of the industry.

I have gai­ned a lot of new infor­ma­tion about how to res­pond to the cur­rent megat­rends in forest bio­eco­no­my.

– At Val­ti­mo, we saw how the neces­sa­ry exper­ti­se is success­ful­ly built both in theo­ry and in prac­tice. For example, using simu­la­tors gives prac­tica­li­ty and play­ful­ness to stu­dies. This model would be great to take to Cana­da, he plans.

Accor­ding to Clar­ke, the­re are cur­rent­ly a few par­ticu­lar­ly impor­tant the­mes in the discus­sion rela­ted to forests, which he would like to take dee­per into prac­tice, fol­lowing the example of Fin­land.

– Modern fore­stry, which com­bi­nes the efficiency and sus­tai­na­bi­li­ty of forest mana­ge­ment, is cur­rent­ly one of the big ques­tions in the industry. In addi­tion, know-how and trai­ning as well as the forest-based pro­ducts of the futu­re are impor­tant topics. On this trip, I have gai­ned a lot of infor­ma­tion about how the com­pa­ny can dif­fe­ren­tia­te itself and expand its ope­ra­tions to new wood-based pro­ducts, says Clar­ke.

Balance of eco­no­my and sus­tai­na­bi­li­ty

Kris­ti­ne Ree­ves from Fede­ral Way, Was­hing­ton sta­te, looks at the discus­sion rela­ted to forests through the eyes of a public actor.

– The sta­te of Was­hing­ton owns about two mil­lion hec­ta­res of forest. In my work, I am deci­ding how to mana­ge the­se forests, he says.

– I would like to com­bi­ne goal-orien­ted forest mana­ge­ment, but also take into account the eco­no­mical side. This trip has pro­ven that we still have a lot to learn from the Finns, Ree­ves sta­tes.

This trip has pro­ven that we still have a lot to learn from the Finns.

During the day spent in the forest sites of North Kare­lia, Ree­ves has noticed, among other things, the strong coo­pe­ra­tion of the region.

– This has been a great prac­tical demon­stra­tion of a func­tio­ning coo­pe­ra­tion network. We need the right experts with the right skills and com­pa­nies that refi­ne the pro­ducts forward.

Accor­ding to Ree­ves, Fin­land is a fore­run­ner in com­bi­ning cli­ma­te issues and fore­stry.

– We could adopt some of the best prac­tices of how to crea­te a com­mon unders­tan­ding between cli­ma­te and forest issues. That way, it is pos­sible to move towards sus­tai­nable fore­stry, which acts as one solu­tion to the problems caused by cli­ma­te chan­ge, she conclu­des.