the Kvarken Archipelago

90 Pages·2012·21.58 MB·English

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Nomination of
the Kvarken Archipelago
for the inclusion in
the World Heritage List
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THE KVARKEN ARCHIPELAGO
Presentation of World Heritage site as a transboundary nomination and complement to the High Coast World Heritage.
Editors: Susanna Ollqvist and Leena Rinkineva-Kantola
Design: Heikki Järvinen
Cover illustrations: Front: Aerial view of the De Geer moraine-landscape at Björköby. Photo Korsholm municipality ©.
Inside back: Historical map “Charta Marina” 1539, Historical map of the Kvarken area from 18th century, Nautical chart of the Kvarken area year 2003. Finnish Maritime Association ©.
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The Kvarken
Archipelago
Presentation of World Heritage site
as a transboundary nomination and complement
to the High Coast World Heritage.
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Preface
The preparation of the World Heritage proposal of the Kvarken Archipelago started in 1997. A year
earlier, the Nordic Council of Ministers published a report listing potential Nordic World Heritage
candidates. Both the Kvarken Archipelago and the High Coast were included on the list. The High
Coast was awarded the status of a World Heritage Site in 2001. The preparation of the World
Heritage proposal has been a co-operation between Finland and Sweden. As a result of the formal
expert report of 2002, the Swedish part of the Northern Kvarken was dropped from the proposal.
The present proposal includes the entire archipelago on the Finnish side of the Northern Kvarken.
The Kvarken Archipelago is proposed to be a complement to the High Coast World Heritage Site.
It has been a long process to prepare the World Heritage proposal for the Kvarken Archipelago.
Innumerable meetings for information and discussion have been held to obtain broad support from
all regional and local stake holders. The proposal has been officially submitted for consideration
three times.
All concerned municipalities were quite positive about World Heritage status in the Kvarken
Archipelago from the beginning, and have realised that it is an opportunity to improve the image of
the area. The inhabitants were more hesitant, but information produced and distributed during the
process has increased both the acceptance and the awareness of the area’s values. At the same time,
the Kvarken Archipelago has become more well-known, both nationally and internationally.
The World Heritage project has received a lot of attention in the press, radio, and television, and two
movies about the Northern Kvarken have been produced.
This application could not have been prepared without the assistance and support of many people
and institutions. We are particularly grateful to the Geological Survey of Finland and the
Ostrobothnian Museum – our key co-operation organisations. Special thanks also to the Finnish
Ministery of Environment for their financial support and encouragement through the entire process.
We, the people responsible for the preparation of the World Heritage proposal, are very proud of our
land uplift archipelago. We sincerely hope that the Kvarken Archipelago will be the first Nature
Heritage site of Finland, and that this will create opportunities for sustainable development of the
region and for the protection of the geological values.
Pertti Sevola Kari Hallantie Olav Jern
Executive Director Park Director Executive Director
West Finland Regional Metsähallitus Regional Council of Ostrobothnia
Environmental Centre Natural Heritage Services
Susanna Ollqvist Leena Rinkineva-Kantola
Planning Officer Senior Adviser
Metsähallitus West Finland Regional
Natural Heritage Services Environmenal Centre
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Contents
1 Identification of the site .............................. 7 5.g Sources of expertise and training in
1.a Country ....................................................................... 7 conservation and management techniques ... 62
1.b Province / Landscape ............................................. 7
1.c Name of the site ...................................................... 7 5.h Visitor facilities and statistics ......................... 62
1.d Geographical coordinates .................................... 7 5.i Policies and programmes related to the
1.e Maps ..............................................................................7 presentation and promotion of the
1.f Area of the site ......................................................... 7 nominated site. ..................................................... 66
5.j Staffing levels........................................................ 67
2 Justification for inscription ......................... 9
2.a Criteria under which inscription is proposed .... 9 6 Monitoring ....................................................... 69
2.b Statement of significance ...................................10 6.a Key indicators for measuring state of
2.c Comparative analysis ............................................13 conservation ........................................................... 69
2.d Integrity ......................................................................15 6.b Administrative arrangements for
monitoring the site .............................................. 71
3 Description ........................................................17 6.c Results of previous reporting exercises ....... 71
3.a Description of the site ..........................................18
3.b Culture history ....................................................... 38 7 Documentation .............................................. 73
7.a Photographs, slides and other audiovisual
4 State of Conservation of the Site ........... 53 materials .................................................................. 73
4.a Present state of conservation........................... 53 7.b Copies of management plans and
4.b Factors affecting the site ................................... 56 extracts of other plans relevant to the site ..... 73
4.c Environmental Pressures .................................... 57 7.c Form and date of most recent records
4.d Natural disasters .................................................... 57 of the site ................................................................. 73
4.e Visitors and tourism ............................................. 57 7.d Address where inventory, records and
4.f Number of inhabitants within site ................. 57 archives are held ................................................... 75
7.e Bibliography ............................................................ 76
5 Management ................................................... 59
5.a Ownership ................................................................ 59 8 Contact Information .................................... 81
5.b Legal status .............................................................. 59 8.a Preparer .................................................................... 81
5.c Protective measures and means of 8.b Official local authorities ..................................... 81
implementing them ............................................... 59 8.c Other local institutions ....................................... 81
5.d Existing plans and agreements related 8.d Official web site ..................................................... 81
to the site ................................................................. 60 8.e Appendices .............................................................. 82
5.e Managements plans and statements of 8.f Acknowledgements .............................................. 82
objectives of the site ............................................ 60
5.f Sources and levels of finance .......................... 62 9 Signature on behalf of the State Party ..... 85
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1.
Identification
of the site
1.a Country 1.f Area of the site
Finland The total area of the nominated site is 323 200 ha , of
which 81 % is nature protection areas. The core area covers
185 500 ha, of which 13,6 % is land and 86,4 % is sea. The
1.b Province / Landscape
buffer zone covers 137 700 ha, of which 7 % is land and 93
% is sea.
The site is located in the western portion of
Ostrobothnia.
1.c Name of the site
The site is called the Kvarken Archipelago and it
comprises the eastern part of Northern Kvarken. Northern
Kvarken is a shallow strait in the Gulf of Bothnia between Figure 1. The location of the
Finland and Sweden. The Kvarken Archipelago is nominated proposed site in the world
as a transboundary serial nomination to the High Coast and the Northern Europe.
World Heritage. National Land Survey of
In this proposal, the name”Kvarken Archipelago” Finland, permit nr 7/MYY/04.
consequently refers to the nominated site only. The names:” Layout Päivi Anttila.
Northern Kvarken” and ”the Kvarken area” are used to
describe conditions prevailing on both the Finnish and the
Swedish side of the strait.
1.d Geographical coordinates
The site is located 7000 km north of the equator,
between latitudes 62o41´7´´N and 64o3´0,8´´N, and between
longitudes 19o13´34,2´´E and 22o14´56´´E. The site extends
about 70 km in an east to west direction, and 60 km in a
north to south direction. A 150 km wide sea area separates
the Kvarken Archipelago from the High Coast World Heritage
(between lon 17o54´ and 19o13´ E and between lat 62o44´
and 63o13´ N) .
1.e Maps
Figure 1. The location of the proposed site in the world
and in the Northern Europe.
Figure 2. The border of the proposed World Heritage
site.
Appendix 2. Geology maps.
Figure 2. Left: The border of the proposed World
Heritage site. National Land Survey of Finland, permit
nr 7/MYY/04. Layout Päivi Anttila.
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2.
Justification
for inscription
2.a Criteria under which inscription and are well shaped and representative. Other types of
hummocky moraines and moraine ridges occur as well. The
is proposed
site is important in order to understand how glacial and
deglaciation processes form the landscape. The Kvarken
With reference to Article 2 of the World Heritage
Archipelago is easily accessible and offers visitors a good
Convention and the criterion in paragraph 44(a) of the
general view of ongoing geological processes and the
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World
resulting landscape.
Heritage Convention, the Kvarken Archipelago is considered
The shallow Kvarken strait between Finland and Sweden
to have an outstanding universal value as a nature heritage
will rise above sea level within 2000-2500 years, forming a
area. The Kvarken Archipelago is nominated for the
land bridge between Finland and Sweden (Taipale &
inscription on the World Heritage List as a complement to
Saarnisto 1990). As a result, the Bothnian Bay will become
the High Coast World Heritage in Sweden on the basis of
the largest lake in Europe (24 000 km2 and 900 km3). Today,
criterion (i):
Lake Ladoga in Russia is the largest European lake (17 600
”to be an outstanding example representing major
km2 and 900 km3).
stages of the earth’s history, including the record of life,
The land uplift process is a mechanism that continually
significant ongoing geological processes in the development
preserves the geological formations of the current
of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiogeographic
landscape. In deeper parts of the site, where the sea floor
features.”
has not yet been exposed to disturbances, the moraine ridges
The Kvarken Archipelago, with a land uplift rate of 8
have exactly the same shape as when formed by the inland
mm per year, is the most representative site in the world
ice. The ongoing land uplift will gradually lead to their
for the study of the land uplift process in flat and shallow
elevation above sea level.
moraine archipelagoes (Aartolahti 1988, Johansson (ed)
The flat topography and the mosaic characteristics of
2000). The geomorphology of the Kvarken Archipelago is
the archipelago leads to a rapid change in the landscape
the result of a series of glacial and deglaciation processes.
once it is exposed. The change in the shoreline is proof of
The geomorphologic feature that makes the Kvarken
the land uplift: new islets rise from the sea, islands join,
Archipelago unique is the spectacular De Geer moraines
peninsulas grow, and inlets develop into lagoons and then
(Aartolahti et al. 1995). The De Geer moraines form clusters
into lakes and wetlands.
Figure 4. The landscapes of the High Coast World Heritage and the Kvarken Archipelago. Photos Västernorrlands
länsstyrelse © and Metsähallitus ©.
Figure 3. Left: Aerial view of different types of moraines at Märaskär . Photo Maxmo municipality ©.
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