Biodiversity legislation is a crucial conservation tool outside nature reserves, but its ecological effectiveness depends greatly on the interpretation of the laws and procedures. To date, however, there are only a few studies on the variation in interpretation of conservation legislation and its ecological relevance. Therefore, we do not know whether current procedures are effective in their purpose of securing biodiversity. Knowledge is needed, as Finland is committed to halting biodiversity loss by 2030. In this PhD project I explore the ecological impacts of ambiguity in biodiversity-securing legislation. My aim is to identify procedural problems and develop solutions to them in order to make the existing conservation regulation meet its purpose in safeguarding biodiversity.
