Nature-based tourism is a global trend that grows very fast and the main attractions in many regions are the national parks and other natural and cultural sites. This has raised challenges in the management of ecological and socio-cultural sustainability. National parks located close to cities have special need for new solutions in management as the number and diversity of visitors are growing fast.

Free access to nature is important in Nordic culture. There is strong need for the quality of visitor management. Monitoring of sustainability is an essential part of pro-active and innovative solutions in visitor management. The project sites have big challenges with the logistics. Most of the visitors come by their own car to the national park. This leads to big parking problems in the spring and autumn weekends.

The main aim of the project is to improve social and ecological sustainability of urban national parks. This aim is contributed by LAC method (Limits of Acceptable Change) and determining the most reliable indicators and the most effective actions to prevent problems and correct factors endangering sustainability in urban national parks like Tyresta National Park near Stockholm in Sweden, Nuuksio National Park near Helsinki in Finland, Lahemaa National Park near Tallinn and Alutaguse National Park near Narva in Estonia.

The aim is also to develop good practises together to control visitor flows and parking problems.

Three workshops of sustainability will be held during the project, to find the most effective LAC indicators and actions.

1. The first workshop on on Ecological sustainability: the threats detected to species and habitats, their prevention and retrieval will take place in Lahemaa National Park on nov 11th, 2019.
2. The second workshop on Social sustainability: crowding, change of customer flows, prevention and redirection by communication and services will take place in Tyresta National Park in Sweden on january 21st, 2020.
3. The final or result promotion seminar will be held as a webinar 23.9.2020.

The project is ongoing 1.3.2019 –31.10.2020.
The project has received funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Project partners and contact information

Lead partner: Metsähallitus, Parks & Wildlife Finland

Project Manager Carina Wennström, carina.wennstrom@metsa.fi

Partners: Keskkonnaamet, Environmental Board, Estonia and Tyresta Forest Foundation, Sweden

Project sites

• Nuuksio National Park, Finland (nationalparks.fi)
• Lahemaa National Park, Estonia (kaitsealad.ee)
• Alutaguse National Park, Estonia (kaitsealad.ee)
• Tyresta National Park, Swede (nationalparksofsweden.se).