MAL workshops in Finland are complete.

The first round of Multi Actor Labs in Finland took place on two consecutive days in February 2022. Both workshops had seven participants representing, for example, governmental institutes, such as the Ministry of Environment, Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Resources Institute Finland, as well as universities, farmers, and NGOs, such as the Baltic Sea Action Group and the Water and Environment Association of Ostrobothnia. The workshop was organized by Christoffer, Mikael, and Anu (Åbo Akademi University), and Anne (SINTEF Ocean AS, Norway) was helping with the modeling methods.

The workshops were held online due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation. The biggest concern that we had beforehand, was how the process would work online, and if the discussion would be fluent and relaxed. We worried for nothing; the discussions were lively, multifaceted, and full of information. 

The validation MAL workshops took place on 23 and 30 March, 2023.

It was clear that the participants loved to talk about the coastal meadows, their management, biodiversity, and especially grazing. Many of them are real coastal meadow enthusiasts! In addition to the professional interest, these experts are actively working for the good of the meadows during their free time through, for example, the Cultural Landscapes Association.

The workshop discussions taught us that grazing is a much more multifaceted management method than we would have ever guessed. Season, area, number of grazing animals, type of animals, grazing intensity, rotation of grazed meadows, water level, soil type, just to name a few, are variables that must be considered when planning optimal management of the site. Even though the motivation for management might not be the same for farmers, environmentalists, or local communities, there seems to be a consensus that well-planned grazing can lead to results that favor all: high biodiversity, beautiful landscape, and healthy grazing animals.

Anu Vehmaa
Project Researcher
Åbo Akademi University