Three quarters of Finland is under forest, which means that they rely heavily on the forestry industry. The growing stock distribution is approximately 50% Scots pine, 30% Norway spruce and 20% broadleaved species, mostly birch. Finland has a growing stock of 2,206 million m3 (or 97 m3/ha) with an annual growth of 99 million m3 (or 4.3 m3/ha). Private citizens of Finland own 52% of forest land, with the government owning 35%, forest industries 8% and municipalities and parishes 5%. The average private forest estate is small (24 ha), but 80 to 90% of wood is sourced from these forests.
Metla, established in 1917, is a governmental research institute that supports the Finnish forest sector. They have been carrying out the national forest inventory since 1921. 70% of funding is directly from the government and the other 30% comes from ministries, foundations and private organisations. They have a total staff of just over 800, of which 330 are researchers. Their research priorities include:
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Forest-based enterprise and business activities
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Social impacts of forests
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Structure and functioning of forest ecosystems
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Information data bank on forestry and the forest environment.
The current research programmes, their duration and programme leaders are as follows:
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Renewing wood product value chains and timber procurement solutions (2009-2013) Heräjärvi, Henrik
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Wellbeing from forests (2008-2012) Tyrväinen, Liisa
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Production forestry in drained peatlands (2008-2010) Lain e, Jukka
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Functioning of forest ecosystems and use of forest resources in changing climate (2007-2011) Vapaavuori, Elina
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Bioenergy from Forests (2007-2011) Asikainen, Antti
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Research and Development Programme on Forest Resource Information Systems and Forest Planning (2007-2010) Kurttila, Mikko
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Cost-efficiency and quality in silvicultural operations (2007-2011) Rantala, Juho
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Safeguarding forest biodiversity - policy instruments and socio-economic impacts (2005-2010) Hänninen, Riitta
Source: http://www.metla.fi