The Green Belt of Fennoscandia forms an ecological network that spans from the Barents Sea all the way to the Baltic Sea. It is a part of the European Green Belt which runs through Europe, starting from the Barents Region and ending in the Balkans. The main body of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia consists of existing and planned protected areas near the shared borders of Finland, Russia and Norway.

The green structure between these protected areas also plays a crucial role in the conservation of biodiversity. In addition to environmental values, the environment of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia provides a variety of ecosystem services, which are notable on a local, regional and Europe-wide scale. Supplementing the current scientific knowledge base with information on the region’s connectivity and ecosystem services would facilitate the inclusion of these perspectives in the development of the Green Belt of Fennoscandia into a model area for international cross-border nature conservation cooperation.

This preliminary study reviews a number of existing spatial data materials and analysis methods for assessing the Green Belt from the perspectives of the connectivity of the protected areas network and the supply of and demand for ecosystem services. In addition to this, the study provides recommendations regarding the use of materials and methods, and outlines the contents and structure of a potential study spanning the entire region, as well as an assessment of its realisation schedule.