Finnish Forest Research Institute, Eastern Finland Regional Unit (METLA)

On 1st January,.2015 the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) merged with MTT Agrifood Research Finland and the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (RKTL) and the statistical services of the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Tike) to form the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

The Natural Resources Institute Finland is a research and expert organisation. The institute promotes the bioeconomy and the sustainable use of natural resources.

Finland is Europe's most forested country - 3/4 of its land area is under forest cover. By international comparison, Finland relies more heavily on its forests than any other country in the world. Against this background it is easy to understand the importance of forest research in Finland. Metla is the main forest research institution in Finland and one of the biggest forest research institutes in the whole Europe.

The Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) was established in 1917, and started its activities in July 1918. Since then Metla has grown considerably; the current network of research units covers the whole country. The Finnish Forest Research Institute is a governmental, sectoral research institute, subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Metla’s duties are defined by the law and statute to promote, through research, the economical, ecological, and socially sustainable management and use of forests.

Our activities have the following areas of strategic influence:

• Entrepreneurial and business activity based on forests
• Forests and the community
• Sustainable silvicultural chains and
• A forest economy- and forest environment -based knowledge pool