The aim of this study is to make a preliminary assessment of the applicability of habitat banking in
Finland. The pros and cons of the mechanism as well as the most essential aspects from the Finnish
perspective are assessed. The study concludes that habitat banking is one of the mechanisms which
could be used in Finland to prevent or slow down the degradation of biodiversity. The mechanism
includes ecological and economic risks, and thus the possible implementation in Finland should be
preceded by a careful and relatively long-lasting piloting phase. Habitat banking could be used as a
mechanism to compensate direct or indirect ecological harms caused to conservation areas e.g. by
large scale infrastructural development projects or to compensate negative impacts of peat production.
Furthermore, it could be used to compensate harms caused by large-scale development projects to
other sites with specific ecological importance. However, the application of the mechanism should be
carefully defined and restricted so that compensation demand would not lead to the hindering of
ordinary economic activity
