Kari T. Korhonen, Minna Räty, Helena Haakana, Juha Heikkinen, Juha-Pekka Hotanen, Mikko Kuronen, Juho Pitkänen. (2024). Forests of Finland 2019–2023 and their development 1921–2023. Silva Fennica vol. 58 no. 5 article id 24045. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.24045

Keywords: forest management; National Forest Inventory; growing stock; forest resources; forest damage; increment; monitoring indicators of biodiversity

Highlights: The latest Finnish National Forest Inventory is presented; Volume of growing stock has almost doubled since the 1920s and has continued to increase since the previous inventory; Volume increment is more than double the increment 100 years ago but has declined recently; Mortality is increasing at alarming rate; Amount of dead wood has now increased also in North Finland.

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In 2019–2023 the 13th Finnish National Forest Inventory (NFI) was implemented by measuring a total of 62 266 sample plots across the country. The methodology of the sampling and measurements was similar as in the previous inventory, but the proportion and number of remeasured permanent plots was increased to improve the monitoring of annual increment and other changes in the forests. Only 6.2 M ha (14%) of Finland’s total land area (30.4 M ha) is other land than forestry land. Productive and poorly productive forests cover 22.9 M ha (75%) of the total land area. The forest area has remained stable in recent decades but the forest area available for wood supply (FAWS) has decreased due to increased forest protection – 23% of the forestry land and 10% of the productive forest are not available for wood supply. Compared to the previous inventory, forest resources have continued to increase but the average annual increment has declined from 107.8 M m³ to 103.0 M m³. The quality of forests from the timber production point of view has remained relatively good or improved slightly. The area of observed forest damage on FAWS is 8.4 M ha (46% of FAWS area), half of these minor damages with no impact on stand quality. Although the area of forest damage has not increased, the amount of mortality has continued to increase, and is now 8.8 M m³ year^–1. The amount of dead wood has continued to increase in South Finland, while in North Finland the declining trend has turned into a slight increase. Since the 1920s, the area of forestry land has remained stable, but the area of productive forest has increased due to the drainage of poorly productive or treeless peatlands. The total volume of growing stock has increased by 84% and annual increment has more than doubled.

Korhonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), P.O.Box 68, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6198-853X E-mail: kari.t.korhonen@luke.fi
Räty, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), P.O.Box 2, FI-00790, Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9898-8712 E-mail: minna.raty@luke.fi
Haakana, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), P.O.Box 2, FI-00790, Helsinki, Finland E-mail: helena.haakana@luke.fi
Heikkinen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), P.O.Box 2, FI-00790, Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3527-774X E-mail: juha.heikkinen@luke.fi
Hotanen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), P.O.Box 68, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland E-mail: juha-pekka.hotanen@luke.fi
Kuronen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), P.O.Box 2, FI-00790, Helsinki, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8089-7895 E-mail: mikko.kuronen@luke.fi
Pitkänen, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), P.O.Box 68, FI-80100 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7583-6297 E-mail: juho.pitkanen@luke.fi

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