The 1997 Finnish Forest Act obliges landowners to conserve the ecologically valuable characteristics of certain habitats listed as habitats of special importance for biodiversity in commercially managed forests.

A major national habitat inventory, known as METE, was coordinated by Forestry Development Centre Tapio and implemented by regional Forestry Centres during the period 1998-2004, with results submitted during 2004. Landowners were advised during the survey how to conserve biodiversity in their forests.
The project has so far covered 97% of a total survey area of 15.5 million hectares of privately owned forest in Finland. A total of 96,000 sites containing important habitats were defined, with a total extent of 60,000 hectares - almost 0.5 % of the total area. Other areas, with a total extent of 67,000 hectares, which did not meet the specific criteria of the Forest Act, but were ecologically valuable for other reasons, were additionally designated as other valuable habitats