Biodiversity is increasingly taken into account in Vantaa city planning
Vantaa adopts the principle that the biodiversity of Vantaa's nature will not be weakened, even though a lot of new construction is taking place in the city.
Building new homes, services, and streets often requires cutting down forests. Vantaa wants to minimize the environmental damage and compensate the harm that is caused.
Vantaa's goal is to save as many natural areas as possible and to direct construction through zoning to already built-up urban areas.
Sometimes construction in natural areas is justifiable. For example, in order to reduce traffic emissions, it is appropriate to concentrate construction along good public transport connections, such as near the railway. Therefore, construction may be allowed to natural areas near the railways.
If construction in natural areas is decided upon, two things are done.
On the one hand, the harm is minimized by causing as little damage to nature as possible. The minimization of environmental damage can be directed in the zoning plan.
Additionally, the harm to nature that still occurs after minimizing the damage is compensated. Compensation for environmental damage means improving the condition of another natural area, supporting the transformation of the natural area into a more diverse one. For example, commercial forests can be restored to a more natural state.
