The Kemihaara mires also meet the SCI criteria: |
There are 12 natural habitat types of the Annex
I of the Habitats Directive as well as three plant species mentioned
in the Annex II of the Habitats Directive in the area. Also, several
(13) nationally threatened plant and fungus species as well as five
animal species have been observed. |
The Kemihaara mires (10 000 hectares) belong to
the Vuotos area for which plans of energy production have been made
since the end of 1940's. |
The area is threatened by the power company
Kemijoki Oy's plans to build a power plant and a reservoir. The
maximum regulation level (appr.8 m) of the reservoir would inundate
240 km2 of bog area (for instance, the Kemihaara mires), as well as
eskers and rivers. With the reservoir built, the Kemihaara mires will
be destroyed. It is estimated, for instance, that 45000 breeding bird
pairs will disappear while some 4500 pairs will settle on the islands
and 3500 on the shores of the reservoir. |
In the decision of theEuropean Court of Justice
made on 19 May 1998 (Case C-3/96) it is established that: |
"[59. Second, it must be pointed out that]
the economic requirements mentioned in Article 2 of the Directive may
not be taken into account when selecting a SPA and defining its boundaries." |
According to Community Law, the above mentioned
decision strongly supports our proposal that the Kemihaara mires be
included in the Natura 2000 network of the EU. |
The area was in the original proposal for Natura
2000 published by the Ministry of the Environment on 7 April 1997 and
14 April 1999. |
Annexes and the main documents for the
Commission's treatment of the area of Kemihaara mires: |
1. Formal Complaint by MEP Heidi Hautala 95/5000 |
2. The Ministry of the Environment's response on
26 June 1996 to the inquiry of the Commission due to the complaint |
3. MEP Heidi Hautala's explanatory notes on 12
December 1997 (see also the annexes) |
4. The reasoned opinion of the Commission on 2
December 1998 (response to the Commission, 98/2208 (K(1998) 3808, 17.12.1998) |
Support from other EU and Coalition Clean Baltic-countries: |
Referring to MEP
Heidi Hautala's complaint and its reasoning, we ask the
Commission to supervise that Finland's proposal for a Natura 2000
network is not compromising the establishment of an entity of
coherent SPAs within the EU. All EU member states will have to take
responsibility as to the protection of our common nature and, in this
case, articularly of breeding and migratory birds. |
We feel that Finland's proposal does not meet
the given criteria unless the Kemihaara mires be added to it.
Consequently, we strongly support the proposal for including the
Kemihaara mires to the Natura 2000 network. |
Gunnar Noren
CCB co-ordinator
Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB), a network of 24
environmental NGOs in 9
coutries bordering the Baltic Sea |
Per Stenbeck
Greenpeace Nordic |
Ola Jennersten
WWF Sweden |
Klas Hjelm
Naturvårdschef
Svenska Naturskyddsföreningen |
Bo Leth-Espensen
International Project co-ordinator
The Danish Society for the Conservation of Nature |
Hans-Christian Mittag
Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) |
Francisco Cardoso Ferreira
President
Quercus - Associacao Nacional de Conservacao de
Natureza, Portugal |