Finland is often described as a green country: forests cover roughly three quarters of its land area, and its lakes and mires are iconic. Yet many of the country’s natural habitats are in poor condition after decades of drainage, intensive forestry and river engineering. In 2026 a new chapter began. Under the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, every member state had to prepare a national restoration plan, and Finland submitted its draft to the European Commission on 1 September 2026. This article explains what the regulation requires, what Finland’s draft plan proposes and what happens next.

The EU Nature Restoration Regulation in brief

The Nature Restoration Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 entered into force in August 2024. It is the first EU law that sets binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems rather than only protect what remains. Its headline ambition is that restoration measures should cover at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. The regulation contains specific targets for different ecosystems, including:

  • terrestrial, coastal and freshwater habitats listed in the Habitats Directive, such as mires, forests and grasslands;
  • marine habitats, including seagrass beds and sediment bottoms;
  • urban green space and tree canopy cover, which should not decline;
  • free-flowing rivers, with an EU-wide goal of restoring at least 25,000 km of rivers by removing artificial barriers;
  • pollinator populations, agricultural ecosystems and forest ecosystems;
  • drained peatlands under agricultural use.

The regulation is designed to be flexible. Member states choose the measures and locations themselves, can build on existing policies and must take national ecological, geographical and socio-economic conditions into account.

Finland’s draft National Restoration Plan

Finland’s Ministry of the Environment led the preparation of the draft together with other ministries, research institutes and stakeholders. The draft was circulated for public consultation from May 2026, and the consultation closed on 27 August 2026. According to the ministry, the plan does not designate individual sites or fixed hectare quotas for landowners. Instead, it describes the means by which Finland intends to improve the condition of its habitats, for example:

  • Mires and peatlands: restoring the water balance of drained mires. The draft proposes well-targeted restoration of roughly 700,000 hectares of mires in poor condition by 2050, instead of applying the regulation’s full target to four very extensive mire habitat types.
  • Forests: improved nature management in commercial forests, more decaying wood and the removal of planted spruce from herb-rich forests (lehdot), a habitat type that has suffered from conifer planting.
  • Rivers and streams: restoring river channels and removing artificial migration barriers. Around 124 barriers are planned to be removed by 2030.
  • Traditional rural biotopes: restoring grazing on meadows and pastures that have become overgrown.
  • Waters and coasts: improving water quality through the measures already set out in Finland’s river basin and marine management plans.

Initial measures focus on state-owned land and protected areas. For private landowners, participation is intended to be voluntary and supported by incentive schemes. The 2040 and 2050 figures are indicative and will be refined in plan updates scheduled for 2032 and 2042.

Why mires matter so much for Finland

Mires once covered about a third of Finland’s land area, and more than half of them have been drained, mainly for forestry during the second half of the 20th century. Drainage lowers the water table, which changes plant communities, releases stored carbon and can increase the leaching of nutrients and humus into lakes and rivers. Restoration usually involves blocking ditches so that water returns to the mire. In the right places this can bring back typical mire vegetation, such as Sphagnum mosses, within a few years, and gradually slow carbon losses. Because Finland has more mires than almost any other EU country, the mire targets are among the most significant and most debated parts of the national plan.

What happens next?

All member states submitted their draft plans on 1 September 2026. Over the coming months, the European Commission, supported by the European Environment Agency, will assess the drafts and publish its observations. Final national restoration plans are due within one year, by September 2027. The plans are not fixed forever: the regulation allows reviews and updates so that lessons learned can be incorporated.

Funding will be a key question. The Commission has proposed that, in the next EU budget period 2028–2034, national restoration plans be explicitly embedded in the 35% spending benchmark for climate and environment. Member states are also expected to mobilise national budgets and attract private funding.

What this means for research and education

Restoration at this scale creates a huge need for monitoring data. Researchers will need to track whether restored mires regain their hydrology and vegetation, whether removed barriers lead to recovering migratory fish populations, and how forest nature management affects threatened species. Citizen science, school projects and local nature groups can contribute through species observations and long-term monitoring of nearby sites. For students and teachers, the national plan offers a practical case study in how ecology, economics and policy meet.

Conclusion

The Nature Restoration Regulation marks a shift from protecting fragments of nature to actively repairing ecosystems. Finland’s draft plan puts mires, forests, rivers and traditional rural biotopes at the centre of that work, while relying on voluntary participation from private landowners. How ambitious the final plan will be, and how it is funded, will become clear during 2027.

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