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Environment and Well-Being Expertise into Business Activity in the Arkhangelsk Gateway
Start date: Aug 31, 2005, End date: Dec 30, 2007 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The goal of the project was to increase and strengthen business activities based on nature in the Kenozero and Rokua regions by identifying, strengthening, and creating products for environment and nature entrepreneurship. The project was to utilise the strong environment expertise of the counterparts and the lessons learned from previous development activity. In addition, their traditional own strengths were to be emphasised. First, the strengths of activity areas were to be explored, of which new environment and nature entrepreneurship forms were to be identified from in order to create new types of products that support the well-being of the area. The project was to create an exhibition and information bank that would support environmental education and nature entrepreneurship, strengthen information exchange between regions, and create an operational model for environmental education. In addition, the recognition of the areas was to be increased by promoting their activities and by joining international and national cooperation networks. Achievements: The project identified the entrepreneurs and actors planning entrepreneurship in industries that support Rokua and its nearby areas and arranged a meeting for them. The Rokua area’s opportunities were discussed at the meeting and future plans were made for more close cooperation. Similarly, discussions were engaged in with entrepreneurs potentially coming to the Rokua region. Information Centre Suppa was developed into an environment information point for entrepreneurs in the region. An exhibition was constructed in the centre, which supported tourism in the region. In addition, work was started for gathering information for its information bank. By gathering and summarising environmental education material from both Finnish and Russian protected areas, a project was started to assemble and publish the best guide and learning materials from the Green Belt of Fennoscandia and from the Baltic Sea countries. Metsähallitus will later produce the material for distribution using the Green Belt environmental education material gathered in the project. In addition, a Rokua book was designed and published together with another project. The project has promoted the strategy to develop Rokua and has increased the international networking of the region. Cooperation between the Rokua region and Russian environmental protection areas was started during the project. The cooperation worked rather well. The cooperation with the Kenozero National Park is presumed to continue also in the future. In addition, the cooperation with other Russian protected areas is going to continue, as will the environmental education cooperation between Rokua and Metsähallitus, too. The Rokua region was selected as one of three Finnish destinations where assessments were started regarding its possibilities for inclusion as part of the international Geopark network. Rokua contributed to the assessments through this project. There are currently 33 destinations in the Geopark network from ten European countries. The main goal of the network’s cooperation is to preserve geological heritage and to promote sustainable development in the regions. The network, for example, distributes information and best practices and develops shared tools. Rokua’s goal is to become a member of the network by the year 2010. In fact, an estimator from the Geopark network visited Rokua in October 2008. The activities initiated in the project will be continued by the municipalities in the region and Humanpolis Rokua.
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  • 70%   239 364,30
  • 2000 - 2006 Euregio - Karelia  (FI-RU)
  • Project on KEEP Platform