Implementation of the idea of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia as a system of protected areas in the European North

The Green Belt of Fennoscandia (GBF) is the Russian-Finnish-Norwegian border region with forest areas and mire massifs almost unaffected by human activity. In the early 1990s, the concept of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia was put forward as a result of joint work of researchers and experts in Fennoscandia and discussion of sustainable development principles for border regions. Its main aim was to have public interests united in the fields of economic development and nature conservation. The cores of the GBF are protected areas (PAs), of federal and regional status, and ecologically connected with the Pan-European Ecological Network (Natura 2000) as well as with Norwegian PAs.