Projects where the UNESCO biosphere is a stakeholder
Ambassador programme to North Karelia Unesco Biosphere
An ambassador program is planned for the Biosphere Reserve, and trainings will be organized to recruit new Biosphere ambassadors for the area.The project started in 2025.
In collaboration with
Sustainable villages of North Karelia -project
A project coordinated by the Association for Rural Culture and Education, with the biosphere reserve as a partner. The project helps villages to carry out environmental actions. The project started in 2024.
Project actor (coordinator/implementor)
Concrete Actions for Biodiversity (CONABI)
A project coordinated by the Association for Rural Culture and Education, with the biosphere reserve as a partner. The project organises concrete biodiversity actions through workshops in the villages within the biosphere reserve. The project started in 2024.
Project actor (coordinator/implementor)
Koitajoki - Land of Epic Poetry
The goal of the Snowchange Cooperative project is a comprehensive restoration of the Koitajoki catchment area, based on traditional knowledge and science. The project aims to restore ecological connectivity by creating water and forest corridors and rewilding up to 1,000 hectares of boreal peatlands. Another objective is to revitalize traditional knowledge, oral heritage, and local governance in the riverside villages.
Project actor (coordinator/implementor)
Doctoral Research: Promoting Sustainability Transitions in the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve
Niko Nesterinen’s doctoral research focuses on promoting sustainability transitions and collaboration related to them within the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve. The dissertation will be carried out between 2025 and 2028, and as part of the data collection, Nesterinen will participate in various activities of the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve.
In collaboration with
Bog 2.0 – From Comprehensive Sustainability to Vitality in Ilomantsi
The project focuses on renewing livelihoods and community mindsets related to the energy use of peat, redesigning education through collaboration between educational institutions, and co-creating a new phase of the peat transition together with local residents and businesses, particularly in the Ilomantsi area. The project is implemented by the University of Eastern Finland (main coordinator), the Finnish Environment Institute, and the Rural Culture Association’s Vaara-Karjala Cultural Society. The Biosphere Reserve acts as a partner in the project.
Project actors
ForTran Metsäsektorin oikeudenmukainen kestävyysmurros
The project develops solutions to sustainability challenges in Finland’s forest sector in collaboration with various stakeholders. The project, coordinated by the University of Jyväskylä, also involves researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, Aalto University, and the Natural Resources Institute Finland. The project started in 2024.
Project actors
Eyes as Big as Plates
Eyes as Big as Plates is an ongoing collaborative project by the Finnish-Norwegian artist duo Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth. The duo photographed actors from the Biosphere Reserve in 2023, and the art exhibition was on display at Koli Nature Centre Ukko in spring 2024.
Project actor (coordinator/implementor)
MAB-LAB - Man & the Biosphere - Local actions for the new global framework for biodiversity I ja II
The aim of the MAB-LAB project is to enhance the readiness of the Nordic countries for the implementation of the new global biodiversity framework and to accelerate its translation into concrete local actions and results. The project aims to demonstrate how biosphere reserves are a valuable locally-based instrument for achieving biodiversity targets The project will increase collaboration between Nordic biosphere reserves, enable peer learning, support new potential biosphere reserves, and compile best practices and examples of how the work of biosphere reserves can contribute to achieving common international goals. The project is led by the Møn Biosphere Reserve.
Biosphere for Baltic: Future Generations
The project, coordinated by the Kristianstad Vattenrike Biosphere Reserve in Sweden, aims to promote cross-border youth engagement for a sustainable Baltic Sea. Biosphere Reserves share experiences and results from local initiatives and projects to identify new opportunities for collaboration and increase youth participation.
Projects that have ended longer time ago
Klick the link to read more about projects that have ended
