Implementation started
The national projects implemented under the measure have been completed, but the measure will continue during the programme period 2022–2027 through active influence measures at EU and national levels to increase the impact of these measures.
An environmental compensation system for agriculture, advisory measures as well as project and investment funding are part of the Rural Development Programme for Mainland Finland 2014–2020. The new environmental compensation system was introduced in spring 2015 and has developed positively in terms of water protection, e.g. targeting of measures and advisory services. For the next programme period starting in 2021, the compensation system should, however, be improved so that it will even better recognize and consider the benefits of water protection measures when targeting measures and levels of compensation.
In the long run, changing the system will require an impact on the EU level. Improvement of the EU system should in practise be promoted in cooperation with other EU member states and the OECD by making use of the research and experimental activities in the member states. It is also crucial to influence the Commission’s working groups in agriculture and environment and to be supported by the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on the Environment. The aim is a more effective targeting of measures at high-risk field plots in terms of loading without an increased administrative burden. During the programme period, starting in 2021, large-scale experiments of measures based on production of new ecosystem services must be made possible. One potential procedure is an auction-based policy instrument, premises of which have been piloted in the project TARVEKE in Finland.
2016-2019
Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
