Transformative change and the shifting power relations

The impact assessment of the Helmi habitat programme as part of the transformation of biodiversity politics

Abstract

Helmi habitat programme is a national programme for the safeguarding of biodiversity, linked to the EU biodiversity strategy, and it increases the resources of ecological restoration and management in Finland. An impact assessment of the programme is analysed as a tool for understanding the multi-scalar governance of biodiversity and transformative change. The potential impacts recognised by experts are considered in relation to the varying interests pursued by governmental actors. The programme enhances the cooperation between governmental actors, but also highlights the tensions related to the extraction of natural resources and environmental protection, and the links between environmental data production and the legitimacy of decision-making. Restoration creates the conditions for the recovery of natural values, but the voluntary basis of the programme and an emphasis on evaluating the economic impact of the programme are seen as a sign of prioritising economic growth over environmental protection. An overhaul of the governmental structure is required to achieve transformative change, and this requires that the power relations between actors are redefined and made visible. The role of the programme as a multi-scalar programme crossing administrative boundaries enables change in the governmental operating principles, the discourse around biodiversity, and the state of biodiversity in Finland.